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Ruth Pratt Bobbs (September 3, 1884 - January 15, 1973) was an American painter known for her portraiture. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana to a wealthy family, she gained renown for her portraits of the city's notable individuals, like Edith Whitehill Clowes and Mayor Robert H. Tyndall. However, she also painted people of national and international prominence.

Pratt married William C. Bobbs, the head of Bobbs-Merrill Publishing Company, on April 17, 1912. Julian Bobbs, William’s son from his first marriage, became Ruth’s stepson.

As a youth, Pratt was educated at the Indianapolis Girls’ Classical School. Later, she spent time honing her skills in New York, studying with Robert Henri and William Merritt Chase. Later, she studied in Paris. After the death of her husband, Pratt returned to Paris for several years, where she painted a portrait of the poet Stephen Vincent Benet. Pratt’s portrait of Benet was featured in the New York Times Book Review on August 5, 1928.

She had a studio in a converted stable on Talbott Street in Indianapolis, which she worked out of for decades. Bobbs specialized in using pastels and oil paints.

Bobbs passed away at the age of 88 in January 1973 due to cardiac arrest and is buried in the historic Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis. The director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art at the time, Carl Weinhardt, commented for the Indianapolis Times at the time of Bobbs’ death that Ruth “had an extraordinary insight of the persons she chose to paint. Their portraits are almost a psychoanalysis. The fact that she did not have to paint for a living enabled her to be most selective about the work she did.” The Indianapolis Museum of Art that year hosted the “Ruth Pratt Bobbs Memorial Exhibition” in her honor.