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Serrin Self
Portrait, circa 1989 |
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Richard
Serrin was born in Evanston,
Illinois in 1928. His natural
talent for drawing, a life-long
love of literature, philosophy,
and religious studies were
instrumental in determining his
course of life as an artist.
Very early Richard developed a
fascination for the masters of
the 16th and 17th centuries,
particularly Rembrandt. Today,
some sixty years later, he is
considered an authority on many
of these masters, lecturing
extensively on their techniques
and compositions.
After receiving his M.F.A.
from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Serrin
traveled in Mexico, Europe, and earlier,
with the US Army, in Japan. After marrying
in 1963, Richard and Dorothy moved to
Amsterdam, and in 1964 to Italy, where their
two daughters were born. The artist and his
wife continue to reside in Florence.
Serrin’s last
retrospective in the United States was in
2000 at the Newington-Cropsey Foundation,
Hasting-on-Hudson, New York. He was
artist-in-residence at Oglethorpe
University, Atlanta, Georgia from 1989-1991
and a visiting professor at Hillsdale
College, Hillsdale, Michigan from 1992-1995.
His work is represented in many public and
private collections throughout the US, and
Europe, most prominently in New York City,
Chicago, Atlanta, Virginia Beach, Columbus,
Georgia, Sanford, Florida, and Minneapolis.
Serrin has been involved
in teaching at many college art programs in
Florence. These include New York University
in Sienna, the Ohio University Art Program
and the Villa Schifanoia Graduate School of
Fine Art.
Up until just recently the
only art of Serrin’s fifty year career as a
painter available for purchase were original
paintings and one limited edition of 300
signed and numbered reproductions of the
Prodigal Son that Richard painted in 1985
for a retrospective of his art work at the
Billy Graham Museum at Wheaton College in
Wheaton, Illinois. Now the opportunity to
purchase other reproductions of his work and
his original paintings will be available
shortly through ASK Publishing Company in
Columbus, Georgia or by going directly to
Serrin’s own website at:
richardserrinart.com.
Biblical themes
are prominent in Serrin's work.
Their genesis stem from his own
preoccupation with God, whose
presence has been marginalized
in contemporary life for many
reasons, some justifiably
intellectual, and some from a
less justifiable hedonistic
nihilism.
His allegiance
to and competition with the
Renaissance and Baroque Masters
led Serrin in 1974, to undertake
four 9 feet square paintings of
Christ's Passion, and ten years
later, two further paintings to
complete the series. In 1986
these large paintings were given
to R. C. Sproul the founder of
Ligonier Ministries and later
installed in Saint Andrews
Chapel in Sanford, Florida.
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