Rolph Scarlett  (American 1891-1984) was born in Ontario, Canada and left home at 18 years old for New York City. He began his career as an abstract artist but also as a set designer for notables including George Bernard Shaw and the Rockettes.  He was the first North American artist to exhibit work beside Kandinsky and Klee at Solomon Guggenheim’s new Museum of Non-Objective Art in 1940. He was an important painter during the American avant-garde movement of the 1930s and 40s. He works are in the permanent collections of major museums including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the MOMA, the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian and the Guggenheim.