Richard Haines

1906 - 1984

BiographyAlways influenced by his Midwestern roots, Charles Richard Haines was born in Marion, Iowa on December 29, 1906, the eldest son of Fred C. Haines (1885-1949) and Hattie Mae Carver (1884-1952). After growing up on an Iowa farm he worked for several years as a designer for a greeting card company and subsequently Brown and Bigelow, a calendar firm. He went on to study at the Minneapolis School of Art, where he would later teach. While teaching at the Minneapolis School of Art he became interested in mural painting. In 1933 he won the Vanderlip Traveling Scholarship to the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Fontainebleau, France.

Shortly after his return to the United States he became involved in New Deal art projects, winning nine mural commissions, primarily for U.S. Post Offices from the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture between 1935 and 1941. In the 1938 he met and married interior decorator Leonora 'Nona' D. Stevens (1911-1989?) from Minneapolis, MN.

The artist and his wife moved to Los Angeles in 1941 where Haines worked for Douglas Aircraft during the war. He went on to teach at the Chouinard Art Institute from 1945-1954. In 1952 he was among nine artists selected to paint murals for the renowned Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. From 1954-1974 he was the head of the painting department at Otis Art Institute. As a painter and watercolorist Haines was prolific and successful. From the late 1940's' through the early 1960's Haines enjoyed representation by one of the West Coast's finest galleries, Dalzell Hatfield. He worked non-stop until his death in Los Angeles on October 9, 1984. Haines suffered no diminution in his skills, producing many of his finest paintings in his last years.

Source:
https://www.sullivangoss.com/artists/richard-haines-1906-1984

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