Constance Coleman Richardson (1905 – 2002)

Summer in Town, 1943, oil on board, signed and dated lower right, 13 ¾ x 22 inches, titled and dated verso, exhibited: 1) 139th Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, January 23 - February 27, 1944, no. 6, 2) Solo Exhibition, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA, 1947, no. 4, 3) Detroit by Detroiters Exhibition, Woman’s City Club of Detroit, Detroit, MI, February, 1948 (see - Detroit Free Press, February 15, 1948 (illustrated), provenance:  William Macbeth, Inc., New York; label verso reads:  “M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, Exhibition Constance Richardson, Title Summer in Town, Artist Constance Richardson, Owner William Macbeth, Inc., N.Y, No 4"

$10,000

Constance Coleman Richardson was a well-regarded Detroit-based painter. She achieved considerable critical recognition during the 1930s and 1940s for her paintings of the Midwest and West that celebrated the beauty of the American landscape. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Richardson employed classic fifteenth-century Flemish techniques. Her husband Edgar Preston Richardson served as Director of the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) for seventeen years. During that time, the artist had ample opportunity to engage with the DIA's Old Masters conservators. This training gave her American Scene paintings a clarity, precision and level of detail rarely found in American art of this period. It is likely that Summer in Town depicts one of those conservators (or perhaps Edgar) sitting on the roof of the DIA. It comes from a series of paintings Richardson completed during World War II depicting the home front. These works often included an American flag. Summer in Town is among Richardson's most significant works.

Richardson studied at Vassar and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She exhibited widely at most major museums and exhibitions in the United States, including the Corcoran Gallery, Pennsylvania Academy of fine Arts, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Modern Art (New York), Detroit Art Institute, Carnegie Institute, Golden Gate International Exhibition, and the New York World’s Fair. Richardson was honored with a solo exhibition at the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco where Summer in Town was exhibited. She was represented by two of New York’s premiere galleries, MacBeth Gallery and Kennedy Galleries. Her works are held in the collections of major museums, including the Detroit Institute of Art, the John Herron Art Institute, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She is listed in Who was Who in American Art and all other standard references.