Bidding farewell to a master painter
By Kristin Hoerth
Begonias (2014) by Richard Schmid.
The art world lost one of its most beloved members in April when renowned painter Richard Schmid passed away peacefully at his home in New Hampshire. He was 86 years old.
I first met Schmid in Colorado in the late 1990s; he and his wife, artist Nancy Guzik, lived for a time in the mountains above Fort Collins, CO, before they relocated to New England. It was early in my career at Southwest Art, and while I knew that he was a highly regarded artist, I wasn’t experienced enough at the time to fully appreciate the breadth of his influence on the art world. It didn’t take any experience, though, to appreciate his graciousness and kindness, even toward a young editor.
Indeed, it’s hard to overstate the magnitude of the legacy he leaves. His exquisite paintings of flowers, landscapes, and people won numerous awards, including the $100,000 grand prize in the Arts for the Parks competition, the John Singer Sargent Medal for Lifetime Achievement from the American Society of Portrait Artists, and the Salmagundi Club Medal of Honor. His works are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution and other major museums. His large painting of Abbotsford House, the home of Scottish poet, novelist, and playwright Sir Walter Scott, was received by Queen Elizabeth II during ceremonies celebrating the reopening of the home in 2012.
Schmid championed what is known as the Grand Manner, an idealized aesthetic style which he described as “a mingling of virtuosity and unrestrained joy in art.” He had studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago with William H. Mosby, an expert on European and American realism, who stressed the absolute importance of painting from life.
Schmid was revered not only for his artwork itself but also for his teaching. His landmark book Alla Prima: Everything I Know About Painting, first published in 1998, was reprinted many times; an expanded edition was published in 2013. Among the countless artists who have studied with and been inspired by Schmid are widely respected painters Quang Ho, Scott Burdick, Susan Lyon, Daniel Gerhartz, Kathy Anderson, Daniel Keys, and many others.
Schmid was one of the 40 Prominent People honored in Southwest Art’s 40th anniversary issue in May 2011. At that time, he told us that he would like to be remembered “with the same fondness as I remember Mozart, Schubert, Socrates, et cetera.” Certainly those who knew him and his work will continue to hold him in equally high esteem for years to come.
This Editor’s Letter appeared in the June/July 2021 issue of Southwest Art magazine.