Emma Richardson Cherry

Emma Richardson Cherry was born in Aurora, Illinois, on February 28, 1859. Her father, Perkins Richardson, was an architect and carpenter and was involved with the building of the city hall in Aurora. Emma began her art studies at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1878 to 1880. She taught art at the University of Nebraska beginning in 1879 for three years. Cherry attended the Art Students League in New York periodically from 1879 to 1885, where she studied with William Merritt Chase, Kenyon Cox, Henry McCarter and Hugh Breckenridge.

Emma’s family moved to Kansas City from Nebraska circa 1882. Around 1885, Emma Richardson Cherry was in Kansas City and had a studio there. She also was a member of the Kansas City Sketch Club when it began in 1885. She was in Kansas City until circa 1887, when she left for Europe to continue her studies at the Académie Julian in Paris and in Venice with Zanetti Zilla.

Returning from her travels in Europe, she joined her husband in Denver, Colorado. She was active in the art scene in Denver and was one of the founders of the Artists’ Club of Denver in February 1893, which developed into the Denver Art Museum. In 1895, Cherry moved to Houston, Texas.

Emma was an integral part of the arts in Houston. She was one of the first professional artists to live and work in that city. There she lectured about Impressionism in 1896 and 1897, and helped bring the first art exhibition in Texas to the Texas Coast Fair in Dickinson in 1896. Emma also co-founded the Houston Public School Art League around 1900. The purpose of this group was to include the arts in public schools by supplying reproductions of famous artworks. Around 1912, the league began working on plans for a museum, and in 1924 Houston's Museum of Fine Arts opened. 

In her art, Cherry painted using oils, watercolors, pastel and other mediums. She was influenced by Impressionism and Modernism, which can be seen in her paintings of flowers, landscapes, portraiture and still lifes.

She died on October 29, 1954, in Houston.