Glenora Richards

Glenora Richards (February 18, 1909 – October 21, 2009) was an American miniature painter and designer of postage stamps. The collector Lewis Rabbage called her the "greatest miniature painter of her time, and perhaps ever."[1]

Glenora Richards
Born
Glenora Case

(1909-02-18)February 18, 1909
New London, Ohio, United States
DiedOctober 21, 2009(2009-10-21) (aged 100)
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, United States
NationalityAmerican
Known forPortrait miniatures
Postage stamp design
Spouse(s)Walter DuBois Richards
AwardsMedal of Honor, National Association of Women Artists
1953
National Association of Women Artists Prize
1962

Early life, education, and family

Glenora Case was born in 1909 in New London, Ohio. Her parents were Bertha and Tracy Case.[1]

She attended high school in Litchfield, Ohio, where she played the violin.[1] She studied art at the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) in the 1920s.[1][2] She met her future husband, Walter DuBois Richards, also a student at the CIA, while she was sketching at a department store. The couple married and moved to New York City.[1]

In 1941, the family moved to New Canaan, Connecticut, where she lived until just before her death in 2009.[1] She had two children, Timothy Walter Richards (1941-2011) and Henry Tracy Richards (1946-2006).[3]

Walter Richards died in 2006[3] and Glenora Richards died in 2009 at a nursing home in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.[1] She continued to paint and upon her death, she was the last surviving member of the American Society of Miniature Painters.[4]

Work and recognition

Richards painted miniature portraits and designed postage stamps.[1] In 1953, she was awarded the medal of honor by the National Association of Women Artists.[2] Timothy, a miniature portrait of her adolescent son, was awarded The National Association of Women Artists Prize at the organization's 1962 Annual Exhibition.[5]

Her miniature portrait of the prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay was the basis for a U.S. postage stamp, issued in 1981.[6][7] She also designed a postage stamp to commemorate Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, a U.S. Army surgeon who was the first woman to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.[8]

Works in public collections

References
  1. "Glenora Richards". Remember Ma. Sentinel & Enterprise. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  2. "Glenora Richards". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  3. "Glenora Case Richards". Find a Grave. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  4. Wes Siegrist (15 October 2010). Modern Masters of Miniature Art in America: Preserving Traditions and Exploring New Styles. Wes Siegrist. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-9821278-3-4.
  5. National Association of Women Artists, 1962 Annual Exhibition. New York: National Association of Women Artists. 1962. p. 12.
  6. Halter, John C. (October 1981). "Stamps & Coins". Boys' Life. p. 62. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  7. "Edna St. Vincent Millay Issue". Arago: People, Postage, & the Post. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  8. "Dr. Mary Walker Issue". Arago: People, Postage, & the Post. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  9. "Artist: Glenora Richards, American, 1909 - 2009 Tim Richards as a Baby (b. 1941)". Yale University Art Gallery. Yale University. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  10. "Portrait of Henry Tracy Richards". Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  11. "Henry Tracy Richards". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
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