Richard Schmid (1934-202) [NRA 2008-2021]
Kaytrina (Ukrainian dancer), 2012
Oil on canvas
25 x 19 inches

L I N E A G E
” When I was much younger, I had some truly gifted teachers. The most extraordinary of them was a man named William H. Mosby, who taught for many years at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. It was there that I had the remarkable good fortune of receiving a structured classical education in painting from him. “Bill” Mosby in turn received his primary training prior to World War II at the Belgian Royal Academy in Brussels, and later at the Superior Institute in Antwerp. His teachers were contemporaries of such luminaries as Monet, Degas, Zorn, Sargent, Sorolla, Mancini, Serov, and the rest of the group, along with the Naturalists, the Impressionists and others. The pure skill which abounded in most of that generation was grounded on seven centuries of accumulated information–knowledge which by then had reached an astonishing level of sophistication.

Mosby had a direct access to that world of art, and he generously shared what he learned with me. In many respects, this is his book as much as mine. ”

-Richard Schmid

Excerpt from ALLA PRIM II, dedication page.