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Richard Crist studied at Carnegie Institute of Technology, The Art Institute of Chicago, and with L. Ritman, B. Anisfeld, and in Mexico with D. Siqueiros. He exhibited at the Butler Art Institute in Youngstown, Ohio, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Cincinnati Art Museum, and in Pittsburgh. A member and annual exhibitor with the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, Crist received his first recognition by the organization at the 1932 annual where he won the First Prize and Honor Award for his painting Mexican Market at Night. It represents one of the two major themes to dominate Crist's work in the 1930s and 1940s; subjects drawn from Mexico and the Caribbean, and scenes of life and industry in and around Pittsburgh. The latter theme is featured in two works by Crist from 1933. Steel Works on the Monogahela River and Isabella Furnaces in Winter depict the once-numerous mills that lined the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers. In Steel Works, the artist gives a bird's-eye view of brick and wooden tenements, one with laundry on a clothesline, in a foreground that is colorful compared to the upper half of the canvas. In the background, one can see the numerous railroad tracks, mills and smoking chimneys that constituted Pittsburgh's steel industry. Isabella Furnaces shows a similar scene in Aspinwall, on the Allegheny River northwest of the city. Both works display Crist's preference for a cool, muted palette of blue-grays, browns, with patches of brick-red and green for contrast. One is reminded of Edward Hopper's landscapes and his similar use of broad areas of uniform color and smooth cubic forms devoid of all but the simplest details, such as doors and windows. At the Associated Artists 1934 exhibition, Richard Crist's painting The Miners, was awarded the Ida Smith Memorial prize for the best work with two or more figures. Described as "a sombre underground view," it depicts two miners, one with pick-ax upraised in the background, and the other leading a mule attached to a rail cart full of coal. Except for the figures and four leaning posts that support the shaft ceiling, the entire picture is a dark void. Crist captures the essence of a pitch-black, underground space, with the scene's only illumination coming from the small lamps on the miner's helmets. The year 1934 also saw Crist producing paintings for the Public Works of Art Administration. His two paintings, Early-Morning Man-Trip and The Coal Picking Belt, depict the workers of the coal industry in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, one of the many towns in the vicinity of Pittsburgh. With smooth forms, cool tones, Crist captures the daily activities of miners and coal sorters. In the former, the light of early morning reveals a parade of men with picks and lunch boxes, crossing a bridge and boarding the train that will take them into the depths of the mine. On the opposite track, moving toward the viewer, is the coal train that brings the product of the workers' efforts to the surface. There it will fall into the hands of the sorters who are depicted in the second scene, standing at their stations in front of the coal picking belt. To either side of the men are the chutes where the coal is divided by size and debris is discarded. Early-Morning Man-Trip and The Coal Picking Belt were presented to the College of Mineral Industries in 1934 by the Works Progress Administration. In 1934, Richard Crist was featured, along with artists Gifford Beal, M. C. Escher, Ernest Fiene, Reginald Marsh, Pablo Picasso and Diego Rivera, in the Art Institute of Chicago's annual International Exhibition of Engraving, Etching, Lithography and Wood Engraving. Crist's print, The Plaza, Sunday Afternoon, shows an open space in a tree-filled park, with Mexicans in their distinctive sombreros standing or resting on park benches and chatting with friends, enjoying the leisure of a Sunday afternoon. Also included was his print, The Church of Shuta Prisca. A portion of the exhibition, including Crist's work, was displayed at the Carnegie Institute in April and May, 1935. In June, 1935, Crist was included in the Carnegie Institute's second annual salute to the best of Pittsburgh's artists with his two paintings, Shrimp Fishers and Tulip Beds, Phipps Conservatory. He would later be invited to show at the 1936, 1937, 1939, 1940 and 1941 annuals. He was honored again in 1936 at the Associated Artist's 26th annual, where his streetcar scene, Five P.M., Pittsburgh, won the Art Society of Pittsburgh's Prize for Landscape. Crist's River Bank won the M. L Benedum Prize at the Associated Artists 1938 exhibition. It was described as being "Charming in its simplicity," with "lovely color," the reviewer comparing it to the work of Ernest Fiene. He was awarded the Carnegie Institute Prize in 1940 for best group of paintings, at the 30th annual exhibition of the Associated Artists. Jeanette Jena, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, called his prize-winning piece, The Archaeologists, "a dramatization of mass and weight, the figures of the men, the rocks, the hills, the earth, combining in a classic pattern which is quiet and dynamic at once." Also included in the show was a work entitled The Last Tree. Richard Crist appears to have left the Pittsburgh area by 1942. In that year, the One Hundred Friends of Pittsburgh Art exhibited their collection of paintings by Pittsburgh artists. Included in the show was a work by Crist, who receives mention as one of the "artists who have left Pittsburgh for other fields." By 1947 he was listed as living in New Hope, Pennsylvania, but he continued to submit work to the annual exhibits of the Associated Artists, and in 1949 he received a jury prize award at the 39th annual. By 1958 Crist was living in Woodstock, New York. In that year his work, by now completely abstract, was exhibited at the Washington Irving Gallery, in New York City. A review of the show described Crist as "a well-known abstractionist who lives in Woodstock." He floats dabs and strong shapes in bright amorphous space; some lock together, others float apart. Blue is a favorite ground, and in the most successful works there is a play of receding planes and shapes that create an equivocal depth." Along with his painting and printmaking, Richard
Crist was also an amateur botanist, author and book illustrator. He wrote
and illustrated several children's books, including The Mystery of Broken
Horse Chimneys, published in 1960 with his wife, Eda Szecskay Crist. He
provided 126 watercolor illustrations for Herbs, and a similar amount for
Vegetables and Fruits, both published as volumes of The Time-Life Encyclopedia
of Gardening in 1977. His work is in the collections of the Carnegie Library
in Pittsburgh. Sources: "Artists of Pittsburgh Find Material and Inspiration
Near Home," Art Digest, vol. 10, February 15, 1936, p. 20. Brignano, Mary. The Associated Artists of Pittsburgh,
1910-1935, The First Seventy-Five Years. Pittsburgh: Associated Artists
of Pittsburgh, 1985. Comes, Marcella Rodanges, "The 1932 Exhibition
of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh," with illustration of Mexican
Market at Night in Carnegie Magazine, vol. 5, February 1932,
pp. 265-269. Crocket, James Underwood and Ogden Tanner. Herbs.
Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1977. "Experiences in Mexico," Chicago Art
Institute Scrapbook, vol. 62, February 1934, pp. 137-138. Falk, Peter Hastings (edit.). Who Was Who in American
Art. Madison, CT: Sound View Press, 1985. Hilton, Roy, "Pittsburgh's Own Show,"
with illustration of The Archaeologists in Carnegie Magazine,
vol. 13, February 1940, pp. 259-266. Hovey, Walter Read, "The Pittsburgh Show,"
with illustration of River Bank in Carnegie Magazine, vol.
11, February 1938, pp. 271-277. "International Contemporary Prints,"
with illustration of The Plaza, Sunday Afternoon in Carnegie Magazine,
vol. 9, April 1935, pp. 9-10. Kostellow, Alexander J., "The Art Outlook
in Pittsburgh," with illustration of Five P.M., Pittsburgh in
Carnegie Magazine, vol. 9, February 1936, pp. 259-267. O'Connor, John Jr., "Presenting Pittsburgh
Artists," Carnegie Magazine, vol. 9, June 1935, pp. 67-71. O'Connor, John Jr., "Paintings by Pittsburgh
Artists," with illustration of Tourists at St. Lucia in Carnegie
Magazine, vol. 11, June 1937, pp. 81-86. "Optimism Keynote of 10th Annual by Pittsburgh
Artists," Art Digest, vol. 14, February 15, 1940, p. 12. "Pittsburgh Artists' 22nd Annual Hailed by
Critics as the Best," with illustration of Mexican Market at Night
in Art Digest, vol. 6, March 1, 1932, p. 9. "Pittsburgh's Annual Shows Many Artists Following
John Kane," Art Digest, vol. 8, March 1, 1934, p. 32. "Richard Crist at Washington Irving Gallery,"
Art News, vol. 57, May 1958, p. 60. This document copyright © 1996, Eric John Schruers |