Henry R Rittenberg (1879-1969)

Henry R Rittenberg (1879-1969) was born in Libau, Latvia and later immigrated to the United States.  He studied art at the Bavarian Academy in Germany, and by 1906, was in Philadelphia, where he attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. Rittenberg painted landscapes and still lifes, yet his forte was portraiture.  The artist was commissioned to paint a number of portraits of American dignitaries including Attorney General Homer Stille Cummings and a group portrait of President Harry S. Truman alongside British politician Clement Attlee and Joseph Stalin at the Potsdam Conference of 1945. Rittenberg was a member of the National Academy and a frequent exhibitor there and at PAFA, the Corcoran Gallery biennials, the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Arts Club. Works by Rittenberg are held by numerous museums and institutions including the National Portrait Gallery, the New York Historical Society, the Butler Art Institute, the National Arts Club. Rittenberg died in 1969.