John A. Ruthven was born in 1927 in Cincinnati, Ohio and is an American artist best known for his wildlife paintings. After serving in the U.S. military in World War II, Ruthven opened a commercial art studio in Cincinnati. One of his first jobs for a commercial client was the Play-Doh Boy that was used in that product's original 1950s advertising campaign. Ruthven's focus and passion, however, was on wildlife painting in the style of John James Audubon. In 1960, his "Redhead Ducks" painting won the Federal Duck Stamp competition. Ruthven's wildlife paintings are on display in many museums including the Smithsonian. His work was also featured in a 1994 retrospective at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History. He designed two pigs for Cincinnati's Big Pig Gig in 2000. Ruthven was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2004. He now lives on a farm near Georgetown, Ohio.