About
Richard Humphrey was born in Berkeley California on December 21, 1951. Relocating to Los Angeles the following year and then to Palos Verdes Estates in 1959, his childhood was spent in the then undeveloped rural coastline of the Palos Verdes Peninsula which came to form his passion for landscape painting and open space preservation. He attended college at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles and upon completion joined the staff of the Graphic and Design department of The Aerospace Corporation where he rose to become the departments top staff artist and designer.
In 1985, through the influence of friend and fellow artist, Daniel W. Pinkham, Humphrey began plein air painting finding inspiration in the work of Russian Impressionist, Issac Levitan and numerous American Impressionists such as Childe Hassam, Guy Rose, and Edgar Payne. In 1997, he organized the first of several exhibitions featuring work of the newly formed Portuguese Bend Artist Colony (members include Richard Humphrey, Stephen Mirich, Daniel W. Pinkham, Vicki Pinkham, Kevin Prince, Amy Sidrane, and Tom Redfield). The exhibitions spanned from 1997 to 2009 and raised significant funds and public awareness for the recently formed Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy and contributed to a successful community effort to preserve over 1,700 acres of open space.
Humphrey’s works are primarily landscapes which are most influenced by the philosophy of the Hudson River School of American artists who saw a relationship between the land and its beauty as a direct expression of a divine source and creative order. His style and approach in oil paintings tends to be more tightly developed than the traditional loose “plein-air” approach finding inspiration in the highly developed landscape paintings of Emil Carlsen, Edward Harrison Compton, and Issac Levitan.
Humphrey’s work has been featured in American Artist, American Art Collector, Fine Art Connoisseur, and Art Business News. His paintings have been exhibited in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, The Bowers Cultural Museum of Santa Ana, The Pasadena Museum of Art, The Carnegie Art Museum, the State Capital Building of Sacramento, The Autry Museum of the American West, The Irvine Museum, and The Bennington Art Museum in Vermont. In 2007 he received the California Art Club’s Gold Medal for the Edgar Payne Award for Best Landscape at the 96th Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition. His paintings are in collections throughout the United States and Europe. He is a Signature Member of the California Art Club and founding member of The Portuguese Bend Artist Colony.
Conserving Open space
Rick Humphrey has been painting and sketching the Palos Verdes Peninsula since he was a teenager. Over those years there has been a great deal of loss of open space to development and expansion. Through the efforts of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy some areas have been protected and remain open for all to enjoy. The importance of these areas cannot be overstated for they have long been a part of this community’s identity and heritage.
Today there are new challenges as proposals are frequently made to build new structures along the coastline. While many of these plans are well intended they still use up remaining open space, obstruct views and diminish the unique quality of the area.
Even those areas that have been “protected” by the conservancy could be in jeopardy by future city councils who might deem it more profitable to sell.
A continual effort is required by every succeeding generation to understand and value the need for these areas. Through his work, Rick hopes to be a part of a larger effort to create an image of the peninsula that is known and celebrated for its foresight in maintaining this natural beauty.