Rolph Scarlett (1889-1984): A Legacy Lost And Found

Born in Guelph, ON, and apprenticed to his uncle’s jewelry fi rm, Rolph Scarlett fled to the Art Students League of New York, where he studied under William Merritt Chase and John Sloan. After his first show he was hired (and had his work acquired) by Hilla Rebay, director of the Museum of Non-Objective Painting (later the Guggenheim). Scarlett’s early geometric and proto–Abstract Expressionist works are generally considered his finest.