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Ruth Gikow (1915-1932) was a New York based painter, illustrator, and serigrapher. Gikow was born in Ukraine, emigrating to New York City with her parents in 1920. She studied under John Steuart Curry at the Cooper Union Art School from 1932-1935. She also studied with Louis Ross, Louis Schanker and Raphael Soyer. In 1935 Gikow became a Works Progress Administration artist, and in 1939 Gikow was awarded a commission to paint a mural titled Children's Indoor and Outdoor Activities for the children's wing of Bronx Hospital. Her other mural work included a live demonstration at the 1943 New York City World's Fair, and commercial murals for department stores across the city. Her career also involved illustrating books such as an edition of Crime and Punishment and History of the Jews in America by Deborah Pessin; and co-founding the American Serigraph Society in which she developed her technique with silk screen printing. In 1946 Gikow married painter Jack Levine.
Her paintings are in the collection of several art museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney, the Museum of Modern Art, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters in New York, the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., the Philadelphia Museum of Art, as well as collections at Brandeis University, and New York University.
