“Ruth Anderson, who was painting last summer with Jonas Lie at Belle Terre, Long Island, is a pupil to be proud of, though a pupil no more, as her recent exhibition at Baltimore has proven. She is very modern, without falling into the abyss of extremity, paints high-keyed canvases, full of light and atmosphere, with marked individuality.”
- The International Studio, November 1914 – February 1915.

Born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Ruth Anderson received her first art instruction at boarding school in Westchester. After a period of study in Europe, Anderson enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1905. In 1912, she enrolled at the National Academy, and was able to revisit Europe as a winner of the Cresson Travelling Scholarship. During her years at the Academy, she developed a distinct style of Impressionism in which she used the color black to distinguish areas of dark and light. She married in 1918 and the couple settled in Boston. She became active in the summer art colony in Gloucester, and was a founding member and exhibitor of the North Shore Arts Association.