Lee Greene Richards was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1878.  He was a successful professional artist and teacher known for his portraits of prominent citizens, landscapes, and  murals at the State Capitol.  He was a member of the University of Utah department of art faculty from 1938 to 1947.  He died in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1950.

George M. Ottinger, whose studio Richards often visited, was an influential local artist. Richards and his early colleagues, Mahonri Young and A. B. Wright, were part of the Twentieth Ward Group. J. T. Harwood was their teacher.  Beginning in 1895 Richards served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England.  While he was there, he was able to visit the British museums and see original portraits by the old masters.  He studied for three years (1901–4) in France, first at the Académie Julian and then, after passing the rigorous entrance exam, at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Richards’s ability to capture some integral essence of the subject brought him recognition in the art world. Although best known for portraiture, Richards also painted landscapes and murals.  His mural depicting Utah pioneers is on the dome of the Utah State Capitol.  His murals are also on the ceilings of several temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Richards’s landscapes have an impressionist feel; he was attracted to effect of light—daylight, twilight, and moonlight―on a scene.

Richards’s work was known both nationally and internationally.  In 1904, he headed the French Salon list for honorable mention, becoming the first Utah artist to receive such a distinction. His career continued with works exhibited by the International Society of Painters, Sculptors and Etchers in England.  His work was also shown at the Chicago Art Institute, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco.

Biographical information on this page was adapted from the Springville Museum of Art.