William Trost Richards

Early Life and Family

• Born: Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1870)
• Parents: Anna Matlack (poet and playwright) and William Trost Richards (landscape painter)
• Brother: Theodore William Richards (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1914)
• Early exposure to artistic environment through her parents' professions.

Education and Artistic Training

• Studied at Cowles Art School, Boston (1888), winning a scholarship.
• Training with William Merritt Chase and John LaFarge at the Art Students League of New York (1890).
• Awarded the Dodge Prize by the National Academy in 1890 for "An Interlude to Chopin" (painting now lost).
• Studied at Académie Julian, Paris (between 1890 and 1895) during travels in Europe.

Career and Artistic Style

• Frequently painted alongside her father in England, Ireland, and Scotland between 1890-1895.
• Relocated to London (1896), maintaining a public studio in Chelsea and exhibiting at the Royal Academy of Arts four times.
• Illustrated publications with her mother, including "A New Alice in the Old Wonderland" (1895) and "Bill Nye's Comic History of England."
• Married William Tenney Brewster (literature professor) in 1905; he encouraged her artistic pursuits.
• Active professional output slowed after the death of her son, Herbert, in 1910.
• Artistic Style: Known for Impressionist landscapes and portraits, often depicting scenes from her travels. Her work frequently utilized monochrome techniques (charcoal, black & white) to capture atmosphere and detail.

Major Achievements and Recognition

• Won the Dodge Prize (1890).
• Exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
• Created a World War I poster for the Red Cross.
• Commissioned to paint portraits of Columbia University professors.
• Held solo exhibitions in New York art galleries throughout the 1910s.
• Founding member and first vice president of artist members of the Scarsdale Art Association.
• Member of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors.

Legacy and Rediscovery

• Initially recognized with memorial exhibitions after her death (1952) at institutions like the Museum of the City of New York and the Butler Institute of American Art.
• Her work was largely forgotten for decades, but experienced a revival in interest starting in the 1970s.
• Major solo exhibition and catalogue published in 2008 (Hudson River Museum, Butler Institute of American Art, Fresno Metropolitan Museum), providing scholarly appraisals of her life and works.
• Today, her paintings and illustrations are found in museums and private collections across the United States and Europe.