Richard F. Lack Catalogue Raisonne: 1943-1998

(1928–2009) was one of the most important and distinguished artists of the last half of the twentieth century. Over the span of sixty-three years he completed more than 1,300 paintings, drawings, sketches, studies, etchings, woodcuts, and watercolors. Early in his career he received thirty-four Gold Medals, Best of Show, People’s Choice awards, and several scholarships for his atelier (1971–1992); 100 highly trained painters completed Lack’s program, many of whom are accomplished artists recognized nationally today. While the prolific number of works Lack completed in all genres places him in the upper echelons of twentieth-century artists, his research and preservation of the “atelier” method of training aspiring painters underscores his historical significance and sets him apart. The language of painting in the manner of the Old Masters was, to a great degree, restored by his research into their methods and kept alive by his students. Today there are countless numbers of ateliers in the United States and around the world; many of them established by those who had completed Richard Lack’s atelier program, or the ateliers run by his students and their students who are motivated to carry on his legacy of training to future generations. One can make a good case that if Atelier Lack had never existed the traditions of academic painting, traced back to the Renaissance, and the use of Impressionist color, developed in late nineteenth-century France, would not exist today.