Ardis Hughes

Updated: September 23, 2024

Ardis Hughes is well remembered by Saratogians for sitting on a little canvas stool and painting the local architecture with incredible accuracy in watercolor and ink. He died in 2004 at 97 and was painting until the end. He had a long career in the arts and illustration. He graduated from the Pratt Institute in New York in 1934. He was then employed by Esquire magazine apprenticing with illustrator Saul Tepper.

During WWII he was employed by the government to create war bond posters. Some are on exhibit in the NY State Military Museum. 

An Army tour in Europe brought him to what was to become his favorite city, Paris. After the war he resided in NY City but continued to travel extensively throughout his life finding great inspiration in European art and architecture.

He won several awards over the years including the Gold Medal in Watercolor from the National Arts Club. He was also a proud member of the American Watercolor Society.

His illustrations of local buildings and landmarks can be seen all over town and many own paintings of their homes and businesses by Ardis. He often joked that "You can find me in the gutter," a reference to his usual location by the side of the road sitting on a stool painting a watercolor of a building.