Richard Cletus Pionk (April 26, 1936 - June 5, 2007) was an American artist who worked in the media of

pastels A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...

and

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

and who lived, worked and taught in New York City, New York.
Richard C. Pionk's Biography, (http://www.richardpionk.org/bio.htm). Retrieved 2010-07-24
Richard C. Pionk, Cloquet Education Foundation, Retrieved 2010-07-24
Richard Pionk, President of Salmagundi Club, Dies at 71, Retrieved 2010-07-24 Pionk studied classical

still-life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, boo ...

painting by spending hours in museums. He studied still-life painting in the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

and other New York museums as well as the

École du Louvre The École du Louvre is an institution of higher education and grande école located in the Aile de Flore of the Louvre Palace in Paris, France. It is dedicated to the study of archaeology, art history, anthropology and epigraphy. Admission is ...

in Paris. Pionk studied the works of Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Antoine Vollon, and

Henri Fantin-Latour Henri Fantin-Latour (14 January 1836 – 25 August 1904) was a French painter and lithography, lithographer best known for his flower paintings and group portraits of Parisian artists and writers. Biography He was born Ignace Henri Jean Théodo ...

in particular. He was educated in New York at

The Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stud ...

on scholarships and the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

Biography

Born in

Moose Lake, Minnesota Moose Lake is a city in Carlton County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 2,789 at the 2020 census. Interstate 35, State Highways 27 and 73, County 10, and County 61 are the main routes in Moose Lake. Moose Lake State Park is n ...

, Pionk studied with Daniel Green and

Sidney Dickinson Sidney (sometimes Sydney) Edward Dickinson (November 28, 1890 – April, 1980) was an American painter. Dickinson was born in Wallingford, Connecticut, and was the son of a Congregationalist minister, Charles H. Dickinson. His parents moved freq ...

at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

. In 1984, he was named Master Pastelist b
The Pastel Society of America
ref name="psa"> Pastel Society of America, Thirty-Seventh Annual Open Juried Exhibition, 2009, Retrieved 2010-07-24 and in 1997 was inducted into the Pastel Hall of Fame.
The Pastel Journal Blog, The Pastel Hall of Fame, Tuesday, July 31, 2007, Retrieved 2010-07-24 He taught at the Art Students League The Art Students League of New York, Instructors and Lecturers - Past and Present, Retrieved 2010-07-24 and was President of the

Salmagundi Club The Salmagundi Club, sometimes referred to as the Salmagundi Art Club, is a fine arts center founded in 1871 in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan, New York City. Since 1917, it has been located at 47 Fifth Avenue. , its membership roster ...

. Pionk garnered many awards for his work. He was best known for his still life, portraits and interior scenes in oil and pastel."
Salmagundi Club: An American Institution January 25 - March 20, 2005, Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc., Retrieved 2010-07-24

Sample of work

Richard C. Pionk, "Grapes and Pears", Oil on Canvas
Richard C. Pionk, "Grapes and Pears", Oil on Canvas, Retrieved 2010-07-24

Memberships

Richard C. Pionk held memberships with the following organizations: *

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school at American Fine Arts Society, 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists ...

Pastel Society of America
- Trustee *Allied Artists of America - Board of Directors
Hudson Valley Art Association
*Knickerbocker Art Association *Artist Fellowship – Trustee *

National Arts Club The National Arts Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and members club on Gramercy Park, Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 1898 by Charles DeKay, an art and literary critic of the ''New York Times'' to "stimulate, foster, and promote public ...

*Audubon Artists – Trustee *

American Artists Professional League The American Artists Professional League (AAPL) is an American organization that promotes artists and their works. It was formed in 1928 in New York City by Frederick Ballard Williams Frederick Ballard Williams (1871- 1956) was an American landsc ...

Dutch Treat Club The Dutch Treat Club is a society of illustrators, writers and performers based in New York City. Primarily social in nature, the club has had as members such leading literary figures and humorists as Robert Benchley, Rube Goldberg, Robert M. McBri ...

Awards

*The Pastel Hall of Fame - 1997 *Master Pastelist by the Pastel Society of America - 1984

Pastel

Pastel is an

art medium Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of what ...

in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered

pigment A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compo ...

and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are the same as those used to produce all colored art media, including oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low

saturation Saturation, saturated, unsaturation or unsaturated may refer to: Chemistry * Saturation, a property of organic compounds referring to carbon-carbon bonds ** Saturated and unsaturated compounds **Degree of unsaturation ** Saturated fat or fatty ac ...

. The color effect of pastels is closer to the natural dry pigments than that of any other process.Mayer, Ralph. The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques. Viking Adult; 5th revised and updated edition, 1991.

External links

Richard C. Pionk's Official Web Site

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pionk, Richard 1936 births 2007 deaths American still life painters 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists People from Moose Lake, Minnesota Painters from New York City Painters from Minnesota Pastel artists Art Students League of New York alumni Art Students League of New York faculty Members of the Salmagundi Club 20th-century American male artists