Biography from AskART:
| Known as a portrait painter of horses, Richard Reeves was born in
Manhattan, New York and settled in Greenport after having a studio for
many years in Oldwick, New Jersey. From there he traveled widely
to depict his subject matter.
Horse-portrait commissions came from many prestigious horse owners such
as Paul Mellon, W. Averill Harriman, Allaire duPont, Aga Khan and Harry
Guggenheim., and subjects included race- winners Seattle Slew,
Secretariat, Buckpasser and Spectacular Bid.
His mediums were oil on canvas and his style has been described as
"neo-Romantic". It was written that he set sleek-coated muscular
horses against pastoral backgrounds, and sometimes he included the
jockey in his gleaming silks. Over the course of his career Mr.
Reeves captured some of the best jockeys in the world, among them Ron
Turcotte, Lester Piggot and Bill Shoemaker."
Paintings by Reeves are primarily in private collections and are in the
permanent collection of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Reeves was a descendant of Thomas Sully, famous 18th-Century American
portraitist. His mother, Edna Simonson Reeves raised standard
bred horses, and her son was raised in Garden City on Long Island near
Belmont Park.
Richard Reeves earned a B.A. in art in 1941 from Syracuse Univeresity
and served in naval intelligence in China during World War II.
One of his superior officers was Bob Johnson, President of Roosevelt
Raceway, and he took note of the continual sketching of horses by
Reeves. After the war, Johnson contacted Reeves and linked
him to further subjects for his paintings.
Reeves' 1948 portrait of racehorse 'Armed', horse of the year the previous year, was on the covern of Life magazine, and this attention activated many commissions.
Source:
Margalit Fox, "Richard Stone Reeves, Painter of Racehorses, Is Dead at 85", Obituary section of The New York Times, October 12, 2005, Section BI
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