Jean Richardson is a native of Oklahoma with a long lineage of western forbears. Her grandparents were ranchers and many old family stories of pioneering on the Great Plains are part of her legacy. She began twenty years ago to paint haunting canvases of mounted figures silhouetted against a horizon in the mode of the western photographer, Edward Curtis. She was also influenced by the grand landscapes of the American Luminists. In her reinterpretation of these vast skies and limitless prairies, she has taken the content of her heritage and juxtaposed that with the look of abstract expressionism. Her paintings particularly deal with the heroic image of the horse, which she views as a symbol of the human spirit. Whether in rearing steeds or in thundering herds, these mythical beings are merely the vehicle for motion and energy which underlie all of her paintings.
Richardson always paints in series and has evolved over many years to the dynamic paintings of recent exhibitions. Using a palette of jewel tones and deep earth hues, she slashes texture across the color and lets the image emerge from a painterly background. Almost hidden in an explosion of brush strokes and color, the horses of Richardson’s imagination plunge and leap across the canvas. Many collectors relate to her paintings, which combine her mastery of color and form with a subject that is apparent and illusive. Richardson maintains that there is a special empathy that transpires when the viewer experiences the movement of the image along with the movement of the brush.
Jean Richardson has been an artist all her life. She began painting as a child of seven and has pursued her art without interception since that time. She is married and has three grown children.