261 Gallery
The 261 Gallery was a gallery and art center located in Tucson, Arizona within United States established by Ruby Warren Newby. It served as an important experimental modern art center in Southern Arizona that supported emerging and established modern artists, exhibited cutting-edge and avant-garde work, and enhanced and built a progressive artistic culture in the American southwest. Opened in 1948, the gallery was named for its address, 261 North Court Street in Tucson, Arizona.
Ruby Warren Newby
Ruby Warren Newby was born on July 28, 1886, in Goff, Kansas. She attended schools in Kansas City, Missouri before enrolling and receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in education at Southern College. She continued her education at Rollins College and received a Carnegie Foundation scholarship. Between 1934 and 1936 she served as an Art Supervisor under the Public Works Administration in New York City.Newby studied ceramics and continued her education and graduate work at Harvard University and Columbia University. For eight years she held the position at her Alma maters as head of the art department of Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and art director at Southern College. She also served as the director of the Southern States Art League. During her career, she oversaw and taught art classes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, at the Brooklyn Museum, the Kansas City Art Institute, and the Teachers College, Columbia University. She wrote numerous articles on art education for professional journals. Newby had two daughters Martha May Brewer and. Betty Mireur and a son John D. Newby.
Newby moved to Tucson in 1946 from Kansas City and took a position teaching art at Reddington School and Amphitheater School.
Revival and closure
In February 1963 Hallie Matlock announced that she would reopen the 261 Gallery with an exhibition of work by Bruce Mcgrew on March 3. The gallery remained open for a year. The last exhibition was the work of Jack Stuck. In February 1964 Matlock closed the 261 Gallery for the last time.Legacy
The 261 Gallery and Ruby Warren Newby's patronage was an important period in Tucson's post-WWII artistic development, growth, and popularization of modern art in Southern Arizona. The creation of a non-profit cooperative gallery allowed the presentation of artwork that was focused on creative development and less on salability. Although the existence of the gallery was brief it hosted over 30 shows and created a stage to highlight Avant-garde young artists and push ideas of art and creativity.The creation of the gallery and its importance to the culture of the Southwest was featured on the international radio program Voice of America, on April 22, 1952.