MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Robert Richards of the Society of Illustrators

Usually Whom You Know presents the Mover and Shaker, however, in this case as Robert Richards' writing was so impressive and his story so compelling, we left it in his own words.

Robert Richards:
My drawings are my little films, plays and novels - passports into
an idealized world where flaws are minimized and assets maximized.
As a child I lived entirely in my fantasies using what little money
I could get my hands on to buy magazines and movie tickets trying to
visualize myself in the swanky milieus portrayed in the photographs
and films I loved so. I drew constantly and secretly attempting to
capture my naive concept of fashion and high society on paper.

When after endless nagging and pleading I was allowed to transfer from
a strict, French speaking, wrong-side-of-the-tracks, parochial school to
a much larger public high school it occurred to me that my drawing
ability might be of value. Maybe I could put all the years of drawing
furtively alone in my room to good use in distinguishing myself from the
pack. I volunteered for anything that involve art - prom comittees, the
school newspaper, yearbooks - anything! And it worked! It gave me
direction and eventually an escape from my dreary Maine hometown.

In my senior year I started to panic. My family couldn't afford college and the thought of a life spent working in the local textile factory terrified
me. I started writing letters and sending drawings to art schools explaining I needed financial assistance and before long replies with
scholarship offers started arriving. I accepted the Museum School of
Fine Arts at Boston University before ever telling my parents what I had done. I was fifteen.

I was very serious about school for the next two years but after a while sitting for hours enduring the classical disciplne of drawing human appendages
from plaster casts wasn't enough for me. I wanted excitement, fashion, a dizzying pace! The life I'd imagined I would have. I started taking
my makeshift little portfolio to the smart shops in Boston's Back Bay
and almost immediately I started getting little free-lance commissions.
That was the first money I ever earned and to this day drawing has
remained my only source of income.

Today I have the luxury of making choices. I'm still interested in
fashion but along the way I started wanting to draw the people INSIDE the clothes, the beauties and the beasts, the wealthy and the down
and out, the famous and the unknown and all the sexes. At this moment
I'm probably best known for my drawings of men.

I draw every day and at the moment I've just completed a project that's
been a highlight of my long career. For years I've wanted to curate a
tribute to the great, too often overlooked and almost forgotten
fashion illustrators - Kenneth Paul Block, Antonio, Joe Eula, Eric,
Fred Greenhill, Rene Bouche...all the greats, as well as the
contemporary illustrators who are waiting for their moments to arrive.
Now, in April of 2009 the show is up at The Society Of Illustrators
in New York City. It's beautiful and it's drawing crowds. Another
dream realized. More to come.

****

Peachy Deegan met Robert Richards and interviewed him for Whom You Know.

Peachy Deegan: HOW DO YOU LIKE BOSTON'S BACK BAY COMPARED TO MANHATTAN?
Robert Richards: I'm in Manhattan, not in Boston's Back Bay. That says it all.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY DRAWING THE MOST AND HAVE YOU ALWAYS ENJOYED THAT THE MOST
OR HAVE YOU CHANGED FAVORITE SUBJECTS OVER THE YEARS?
I draw people and fashion oriented stuff so change is automatic. Every new face brings a new world.

WHAT ARE YOU PROUDEST OF?
That I'm still working and hungry for it after all this time.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO DRAW THAT YOU HAVEN'T DRAWN YET?
People I've yet to see.

HOW DID YOU BECOME INVOLVED WITH THE SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS?
The "Line Of Fashion" show I curated was originally presented at the
Leslie-Lohman Gay Art Foundation in Soho. Anelle Miller, the director of the Society , saw it there, loved it And asked if I'd consider moving
it to their gallery. Obviously I said "YES!" which was a smart move
because the entire process has been a joy and I hope the beginning of a
long association.

WHAT SHOULD WHOM YOU KNOW READERS ABOUT THE SOCIETY?
The Society's mission is to promote the art and appreciation of illustration, its history and evolving nature through exhibitions, lectures and education.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO BE IN NEW YORK?
Any of the venues which present good music - jazz, classical, some cabaret.
And alone in my apartment knowing that big throbbing world is just outside my window, I like solitude and I believe in the unspoken thought.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SHOP?
Camouflage on 8th Ave. It's a brilliantly edited store...if you like one thing you'll most likely like the rest.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DRINK?
Water, flat or sparkling and any tea except Earl Grey - nothing else.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE RESTAURANT?
Le Bernadin - but I never go there.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NEW YORK CITY BOOK?
"What Makes Sammy Run"....brittle and vulgar.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING TO DO IN THE CITY THAT YOU CAN"T DO
ANYWHERE ELSE?
Hitting the streets, there's something unexpected at every turn.

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS MOST UNDERRATED AND OVERRATED HERE?
Most underrated: The intimacy - it's a very embracing city
Most overrated: Broadway

WHAT ELSE SHOULD WHOM YOU KNOW READERS KNOW ABOUT YOU?
I'm up for most things. Just ask.

HOW YOU LIKE TO BE CONTACTED?
E-mail: ROBERTWRICHARDS@EARTHLINK.NET