A student at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts from 1920, he also studied at the Berlin Academy in 1922, coming in to contact with the Sturm. His talent was discovered by Lajos Kassák, so Ruttkay belonged to the circle of artists around the journal "MA". He took a diploma in Law in 1926, and taught at the University of Szeged from 1940 to 1950. He returned to the fine arts in 1950.