William Richards: The Vastness Beyond Vision
Category: Event Calendar
Date and Time
- Sat, Jan 11, 2025 - Sun, Jul 27, 2025
Location
Akron Art Museum
1 S High St
Details
William Richards (1917–2004) created dazzling arrays of abstract photographs, though his highly successful career was predominantly commercial rather than artistic. Richards learned photography and industrial design as a young student in New York City. After serving in World War II and moving to Cleveland, Ohio in the late 1940s, he founded Richards Studios as a firm specializing in advertising and visual communications. Through his work, he became one of the first adopters of color photography, which he used to create imagery that introduced consumers to other new technologies in manufacturing, transportation, electronics, and more.
Richards didn’t retire until 1990, and all the while he pursued abstract photography in his spare time. He had the skill to try a variety of working methods, but his preferred approach was to photograph reflections that he created on bent and chromed metal using studio lights and colored filters, and occasionally other colorful items like glass and wrapping paper. Sometimes the resulting abstract pictures made their way into his advertising work, but otherwise they were rarely seen in public. They have not been exhibited since 1988.
The Akron Art Museum is open Wednesday and Friday - Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm and Thursday from 11 am to 9 pm.
