Ruth Smith: Faroese Artist's Life and Work Explored

Ruth Smith, a Faroese artist born in 1913 in Vágur on Suðuroy, navigated significant personal and artistic tensions throughout her life. After her father's death from tuberculosis when she was nine, her mother ran the family paint store while raising five children. Smith began working at fifteen to support the family and moved to Denmark at seventeen to train as a nurse. Her artistic career began when a patient at a Frederiksberg hospital saw a watercolor Christmas card she painted and encouraged her to apply to Bizzie Højer's art school. She later studied at the Copenhagen art academy under Professor Aksel Jørgensen for approximately seven years starting in 1936. During her studies, she met Danish architect Poul Morell Nielsen, with whom she engaged in discussions about literature, philosophy, and Marxist theory, contrasting with her religious upbringing in the Open Brethren movement. Smith returned to the Faroe Islands in 1948 with Nielsen and their son Leif, living in her childhood home in Vágur before moving to Nes in 1950. Her painting 'Við Neytalið' from 1951 depicts the view from their rented house in Nes, noted for its distinctive lighting. Life in Nes was challenging due to social isolation, financial strain, and local suspicion of both Nielsen's Danish background and Smith's artistic pursuits. After her mother, who suffered from depression and psychosis, was moved to a hospital in Denmark by Smith's sister Hanna, Smith painted 'Móðir mín' in 1952, expressing her emotional response through a vivid red-blue color scheme. In her later years, Smith produced notable self-portraits and landscape paintings, some interpreted as reflecting declining eyesight and melancholy. She died at age 45 on May 28, 1958, when her body was found on the foreshore of Vágsfjørð; the cause remains unclear, with theories including meningitis linked to tuberculosis or cold exposure. Her final works, such as 'Skýggj og blá luft II' from 1957, often feature fjord views and have been described as conveying a desire for peace and freedom.