Richard Florsheim

During his lifetime, the American artist, Richard Florsheim conducted a career distinguished by a sustained commitment to producing serious art and equally continuous one to improving conditions under which artists work.In time he confronted what so many of his colleagues experience as they age, a rapid narrowing window of professional opportunity. It was an issue Florsheim considered seriously. In his will, he established a small trust fund to keep that window open for meritorious older American artists who had remained productive in their work.The Richard A. Florsheim Art Fund, established in the will of the artist, began its programs of support for older American artists in 1989. since then nearly 500 grants have been made. The grants served to support the mounting of museum exhibitions, the publication of catalogs and the acquiescing of works by museums.As a young artist, Florsheim spent several years in Paris, a place he returned to frequently throughout his career. Following service in the U.S. Navy in World War II, his work first gained national attention for his somber interpretations of the devastation world conflict he had witnessed: later bright expressionist paintings largely influenced by a stay in Mexico and the American Southwest emerged. In his maturity his paintings and graphics were concerned with refracted lights in landscapes, scenes of Industry or nighttime cities (Chicago?). The lyrical works reflecting his summer stays in Provincetown were similarly concerned with refractions and distortions of lights.Among the many museums owning his work are: The Art Institute of Chicago, La Biblioteque Nationale, Paris, The Butler Institute of American Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Library of Congress, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museo D'Art Modern, Milan, Museu de Arte Moderne, Rio de Janeiro, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Syracuse University, Victoria and Albert Museum, Yale University.Source: Florsheim Art Fundwww.florsheimartfund.org