Paul Rudin was a 20th Century American sculptor and artist. Born on March 31, 1904 in Germany, he visited America as a young man, falling in love with upstate New York. He met and married his wife Ruth and they settled in Patterson, New York in an old millhouse that they inherited.
The couple never had children, but welcomed neighborhood children into their home. Artist Dan Morris of Virginia Beach, Virginia elaborated on his experience of studying with Rudin. “Paul Rudin was a German sculptor and artist who lived in my hometown in Patterson, New York. One of my elementary school teachers recommended me to him as a student. I went to his house about once a week in the 6th grade…he and his wife were a very nice older couple…”
In Mark and Marie Benko’s unpublished booklet in the Patterson Library, they describe the Rudin’s home. “Almost anywhere you looked in the living room was a sculpture of some wild animal. Mrs. Rudin told me [Marie Benko] that Paul would first draw the animals looking at books or from memory. Then one of Paul’s friends suggested he go to the zoo and do sketches of the real animals. Of course, Paul went. And from the drawings he made the sculptures.”
Rudin received a contract in 1938 to prepare a relief for the post office in Dunn, creating a relief panel 3’1” x 6’6” titled Cotton and Tobacco. He also designed and executed a cross for the Christ Chapel at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary.
Paul Rudin died on January 23, 1992 in Patterson, New York.
