Born in the province of Moravia in the Austrian Empire, in his early years Henry Richter excelled in violin, math and art. His family immigrated to the United States and lived in Chicago. Here Richter studied privately with famous artist, E.A. Burbank, who was known for painting over 1200 portraits of First Nations people in the mid 1800s. He also attended the Chicago Art Institute. In 1911, he accepted a position out West at the Colorado State Normal School which would later become Western Colorado University. He taught art, violin and German language. He painted the large murals of xxx content, now on display in the college library.
He traveled back to Europe in 1913 to study at a private art school in Munich and returned to Gunnison in 1914 due to the start of WWI. He married Catherine Moore, from Grand Junction and they lived in the renowned La Veta Hotel in Gunnison. Soon after, Catherine took up his teaching responsibilities so that he would have more time to paint. He painted and sketched all around the Gunnison Country.
In 1919 the Richters relocated to Des Moines, IA to teach at Drake University. Within a year, they relocated again to Long Beach, CA where they taught students for many years, started a family and continued to travel to paint the landscapes that inspired them.
His works include scenes from Laguna Beach, Europe, Colorado, the California desert, in both oil and watercolor.
Click here to see our works by Richter.
1870 – 1960
Reference: The Art of Henry Leopold Richter and Catherine Moore Richter website: https://www.hlrsr.org/henry-leopold-richter. 3/21/23.