David Ruff
David Ruff (1925-2007) was an American painter and printmaker. In 1950, Ruff and his wife, writer Holly Beye (1922–2011), moved to San Francisco, where Ruff founded the fine art print publishing studio The Print Workshop. His plan was "to produce fine books of poetry – books such as those I saw on a visit to Henry Miller in Big Sur: beautiful limited editions printed in Paris with etchings and lithographs by great artists".
David Ruff
Susan Finnel Ruff · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- David Ruff
- Born
- 1925 · New York.
- Died
- 2007 · Turin.
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- artist · printmaker · etcher · poet · painter
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David Ruff (1925-2007) was an American painter and printmaker. In 1950, Ruff and his wife, writer Holly Beye (1922–2011), moved to San Francisco, where Ruff founded the fine art print publishing studio The Print Workshop. His plan was "to produce fine books of poetry – books such as those I saw on a visit to Henry Miller in Big Sur: beautiful limited editions printed in Paris with etchings and lithographs by great artists".
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wikidata · Q5239289 · wikipedia · David Ruff
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Biography
Biography
In this year, he co-founded the small press The Jargon Society together with the poet Jonathan Williams. Ruff designed, printed and did etchings for limited editions of poems by his wife, by Kenneth Patchen, and by Jonathan Williams. He worked with the little magazine Inferno, taught evening classes in fine-press printing and engraving methods, and printed business cards for neighborhood dressmakers, letterhead paper, and concert programs. An exhibit of his work was held at the Book Club of California in 1952 and an etching by Ruff acquired by Moore Achenbach is in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Other prints and books from TPW are in the collections of the Rare Book Room and Prints Division at the New York Public Library on 42nd Street, Brown University, Yale University, SUNY at Buffalo. In 1955, Ruff printed the first edition (500 copies) of Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Pictures of the Gone World (Pocket Poets 1). The Print Workshop closed in 1955, and Ruff and Beye moved back to the East Coast.
David Ruff is behind a press at The Print Workshop, in San Francisco
Susan Finnel Ruff
David Ruff is working at The Print Workshop, in San Francisco
Susan Finnel Ruff
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — David Ruff
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New York.
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Turin.
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Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.David Ruff. FAMSF Search the Collections. 2018-09-21.
- 2.Ruff, David. Interview. L'Annunciata, Bollettino periodico, N° 7 - Anno II°. Ediz. Spazio Annunciata, Milan. 2,4. January 2002.
- 3.City Lights Books. The Beat Generation in San Francisco, A Literary Tour. 5, 53, 86. 2003. 0-87286-417-0.
- 4.University of Iowa Press. Against the Grain: Interviews with Maverick American Publishers. 202, 203. 1986. 9781587298271.
- 5.Untitled (three figures) - David Ruff. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. 2015-05-08.
- 6.Ruff Print Show. San Francisco Chronicle. July 20, 1952.
- 7.Difference of Method. Pacific Printer and Publisher. May 1952. 29.
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Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Prints
4,138 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- David KandelEngraver
- David Levy ElkanEngraver
- David LogganEngraver
- David MartinEngraver
- David StrangEngraver
- David Teniers the YoungerEngraver
- David van der Kellen Jr.Engraver
- David van der Kellen Sr.Engraver
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