An official of a
New York railroad once said that a painting by Richard Tallant
hanging in his office sold more tickets to Colorado than any clerk
in his company.1 What those travelers probably
wanted to feel for themselves was the tremendous love of Nature
and the happiness and awe that the artist felt in Her presence.
For over 35 years, Tallant wandered over the western landscape,
painting. Through his work, he showed his friends, family, collectors
and total strangers the deep and abiding love and respect he had
for the majestic landscapes he beheld.
Richard Tallant was born in Zanesville,
Ohio, in 1853. As a young man he came to Colorado to work in the
mines. Late in his life, he regaled visitors with wild stories
of his adventures in Ute country during those early yeas. Tallant
lived for a while in Salt Lake City, and spent some time painting
in Santa Fe, but he always returned to Colorado.2
A Justice of the Peace for many years (and nicknamed “Judge”
as a result), Tallant married Louise Bellamy MacDonald of Denver
and settled in Devil's Gulch near Estes Park. He was a member
of the Denver Art Club3 and took part in
several exhibitions with that group.4 Besides
painting Longs Peak and other stunning vistas he could see from
his studio door in Estes Park, Tallant also traveled to many other
Colorado peaks, as well as Mount Hood, the Tetons, and the Grand
Canyon, always painting what he saw and felt. In addition to these
landscape works, he also created a group of historical genre paintings
that depicted the Pueblo tribes.5
Tallant was self-taught and as a result his work was uniquely
his own. Although he studied reproductions of work he admired
and these influences can sometimes be felt, Tallant acquired no
affectations of style to dilute his own pure expression. Other
artists might have considered themselves limited by such a lack
of formal training, but Tallant’s love of nature and inherent
talent were strong enough to carry him to a level of mastery very
rare for an isolated artist in the early American West.6
F.O. Stanley, a prominent Estes Park citizen who owned the Stanley
hotel, commissioned many works by Richard Tallant.7
His paintings were also used as illustrations in magazines and
on calendars, and the originals were acquired by prestigious collections
including the Harmsen and the Murray.8 Many
businesses and public buildings also displayed his work.9
When writers and collectors describe Tallant’s paintings,
they tend to use words like “exquisite” and expressions
like “alive with tenderness.”10
It is difficult indeed to find words for his delicacy of colors,
or to express the fine integration of aesthetic elements within
his paintings. The figures in Tallant’s work seem to fuse
with the land, and his light is often diffused, almost dreamlike11,
helping to transmit the mood and depth of the artist’s personal
experience with the place portrayed.
Tallant’s friends believed that the soul of the painter was
visible in his paintings, “the tenderness and compassion
Tallant showed for all of his friends, from the ordinary to the
most eminent.”12 Richard Tallant passed
away in his beloved Estes Park in 1934.13
The Savageau Gallery is pleased and honored to present the work
of this gentle human being and wonderful artist.
1
Samuels, P. and H., Illustrated Encyclopedia of Artists… Garden
City. NJ: Doubleday, 1976. Pages 477-478.
2 “Richard Tallant: 1853-1934.” Sugar and Spice.
Wheatridge CO: Jolly Rancher, April 1973. Page 1.
3 Samuels, ibid.
4 “A Study in Pictures.” The Republican. June
3, 1887. Page 8.
5 Harmsen, D. American Western Art: Harmsen Collection of American
Western Art Catalogue. Colorado: Harmsen, 1977. Pages 210-211.
6. Harmsen, ibid.
7 Harmsen, ibid.
8 Samuels, ibid.
9 Dawdy. D. O. Artists of the American West. 3 vols. Chicago:
Swallow, 1974. Page 228.
10 “Richard Tallant: 1853-1934.” Sugar and Spice.
Wheatridge CO: Jolly Rancher, April 1973. Page 1.
11 Harmsen, ibid.
12 “Richard Tallant: 1853-1934.” Sugar and Spice.
Wheatridge CO: Jolly Rancher, April 1973. Page 1.
13 “R. H. Tallant, 81, Veteran Artist, dies in Estes Park.”
The Denver Post. February 16, 1934. Page 30.
