Richard Florsheim, Night Flight. Lithograph in color.
May 20, 2019
Richard Florsheim, Night Flight. Lithograph in color.
Richard Florsheim was born into a wealthy family in Chicago, Illinois. He studied Art at the University of Chicago. Later on, he was able to participate in independent studies in Europe with financial help from his father. After a few years of study, Florsheim’s father no longer supported him, causing him to have to move back to Chicago. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942. After the war, Florsheim continued to work on lithography and began to exhibit more frequently.
Florsheim presented his landscapes in an abstract manner. When he had his independent studies in Europe, he was able to study with Èmile Bernard in France. Florsheim used some painting techniques that the Post-Impressionists would use. Night Flight is an aerial view of a city with bright lights popping out against the night sky, showing how man-made lights were slowly making their way into being a part of nature. He takes traditional landscape and places a modern flair on them. Florsheim used bright colors to contrast with dark ones in many of his paintings to portray industrial scenes and would often paint the same scenes a few times.
In his lifetime, Florsheim was the president of National Equity and also taught at King-Smith School in Washington, D.C., and Layton School of Art in Milwaukee. He was trustee and honorary vice president of the Provincetown Art Association in Provincetown, where he had a summer home. He was also a member of the Audubon Artists and Society of American Graphic Artists.
This piece was gifted to the Wayne State University Art Collection by Rex Lamoreaux in 2001.
-Written by Marissa N. Gannascoli-