Glenora Richards (February 18, 1909 – October 21, 2009) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

miniature painter A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

and designer of

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

s. The collector Lewis Rabbage called her the "greatest miniature painter of her time, and perhaps ever."

Early life, education, and family

Glenora Case was born in 1909 in

New London, Ohio New London is a village in Huron County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,461 at the 2010 census. The village motto, "The Right Place at the Right Time", was chosen in the late twentieth century by former Mayor Dorothy Sholes. New Lon ...

. Her parents were Bertha and Tracy Case. She attended

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Litchfield, Ohio Litchfield is an unincorporated community in central Litchfield Township, Medina County, Ohio, United States. It is situated at the junction of State Routes 83 and 18, about nine miles northwest of the city of Medina. A post office called Lit ...

, where she played the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

. She studied art at the

Cleveland Institute of Art The Cleveland Institute of Art, previously Cleveland School of Art, is a private college focused on art and design and located in Cleveland, Ohio. History The college was founded in 1882 as the Western Reserve School of Design for Women, at firs ...

(CIA) in the 1920s. She met her future husband, Walter DuBois Richards, also a student at the CIA, while she was sketching at a department store. The couple married and moved to

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. In 1941, the family moved to

New Canaan, Connecticut New Canaan () is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,622 according to the 2020 census. About an hour from Manhattan by train, the town is considered part of Connecticut's Gold Coast. The town is bounde ...

, where she lived until just before her death in 2009. She had two children, Timothy Walter Richards (1941-2011) and Henry Tracy Richards (1946-2006). Walter Richards died in 2006 and Glenora Richards died in 2009 at a

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. She continued to paint and upon her death, she was the last surviving member of the

American Society of Miniature Painters The American Society of Miniature Painters (ASMP) was an association of miniature painters, organized in March 1899. The ten founding members of the ASMP included Virginia Richmond Reynolds, Isaac A. Josephi, William Jacob Baer, Alice Beckington ...

Work and recognition

Richards painted

miniature portrait A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century el ...

s and designed

s. In 1953, she was awarded the medal of honor by the

National Association of Women Artists The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...

. ''Timothy'', a miniature portrait of her adolescent son, was awarded The National Association of Women Artists Prize at the organization's ''1962 Annual Exhibition''. Her miniature portrait of the prize-winning poet

Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. She wrote much of he ...

was the basis for a U.S. postage stamp, issued in 1981. She also designed a postage stamp to commemorate Dr.

Mary Edwards Walker Mary Edwards Walker, M.D. (November 26, 1832 – February 21, 1919), commonly referred to as Dr. Mary Walker, was an American abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war and surgeon. She is the only woman to ever receive the Medal of Honor. ...

, a

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surgeon who was the first woman to be awarded the

Congressional Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. Th ...

Works in public collections

*''Tim Richards as a Baby'', 1943,

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

on ivory,

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

*''Portrait of Henry Tracy Richards'', mid-20th century, watercolor on ivory substitute,

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

*''Henry Tracy Richards'', ca. 1955, watercolor on ivory,

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Glenora 1909 births 2009 deaths People from New London, Ohio American centenarians American women painters 20th-century American painters American stamp designers Cleveland Institute of Art alumni Portrait miniaturists People from New Canaan, Connecticut National Association of Women Artists members Painters from Ohio Painters from Connecticut Women stamp designers 20th-century American women artists Women centenarians Women graphic designers 21st-century American women