The Richard Wilt Legacy: A Museum Gifting Exhibition at River Gallery

The Richard Wilt Legacy: A Museum Gifting Exhibition offers a rare opportunity for museums to select artworks for their permanent collections. Richard Wilt was generous with his art. If a friend or colleague while visiting his studio remarked, "I like that", Richard was quick to make a gift of it. Now the Wilt family seeks to share with the public artworks by this American painter who always followed his own bent and spent his life pursuing and mastering diverse subjects and altering his approach in inventive ways.

Richard Wilt was a prolific and versatile artist. Born in Pennsylvania in 1915, he graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1938. Wilt served as a pilot during WW II publishing artwork and illustrations in military publications. He joined the University of Michigan as an educator in 1948 and held a position as Professor of Art from 1962 until 1980. He had 63 solo exhibits. The range of subjects is astonishing, from figures pieces to portraits, through landscapes and social commentary to crucifixions. When he undertook a particular assignment - like the shores of Maine or a tropical island in the Caribbean, he was directed and obsessed. While on these extended stays he developed his "instant image" technique placing shells, stones, and seaweed on wet pigment and paper. Richard Wilt died at age 65 in 1981 leaving an extensive collection of his work.

River Gallery in Chelsea, MI will host this unprecedented and fascinating gifting exhibition of Wilt's art ranging from the 1940's until later works completed in 1981. The exhibit will include paintings, watercolors, drawings and illustrations. All the works in the exhibit will be gifted to museums at no charge.We are thrilled to announce that selections have been made by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and the Kalamazoo Institute of Art. The Wilt family looks forward to sharing this collection with visitors during the exhibition and is happy to know the artworks will reside in museums to be enjoyed by many for years to come. The entire exhibit will be available for viewing and is free and open to the public.