Oil paintings and monoprints by renowned Woodstock artist Richard Segalman will be featured during the month of August at the James Cox Gallery in Willow, New York. “Forever Remembered” will pay tribute to the renowned artist who passed away on July 6, 2021.
Born in Coney Island in 1934, Segalman was always drawn to the seashore where he created many of his signature compositions of beautiful women dressed in swirling petticoats and colorful skirts. Segalman also posed his models wearing top hats, wide brimmed chapeaus and flowing scarves, a result of “being surrounded by hats, color and fabric”, an atmosphere created by his mother, who was a milliner.
Though Segalman maintained residences in Woodstock and Greenwich Village, he spent the winter months near the beach in Naples, Florida where he created many of his romantic works in oil, watercolor and pastel. After graduating from Parsons School of Design and serving in the U.S. army, Segalman began his lifelong visits to Naples where his aunt and uncle had opened the popular Anchor Bar. It was here that the young artist first displayed his work, selling his charcoal drawings for five dollars apiece.
Eventually Segalman was represented by the prestigious Harmon-Meeks gallery in Naples, which began exhibiting his work in 1981. In Woodstock his dear friend Alice Hoffman featured his paintings and works on paper at her popular gallery on Mill Hill Road. In describing his work the gallerist observed, “Richard was an exquisite draftsman…that and the light he created gave his paintings their structure and strength.”
This will be Segalman’s third exhibition at the James Cox Gallery in Willow, which is located six miles west of the Village Green in Woodstock. Cox recalled that he met with the artist shortly before his death from pancreatic cancer to discuss a summer exhibit at the gallery. “You can imagine how shocked and saddened I was to learn that we lost Richard just a few days later”.
Though Segalman was a master of many mediums, Cox chose to concentrate on the artist’s oils and monoprints for the “Forever Remembered” exhibit. In commenting on the group of monoprints included in the show, Cox recalled that in the early 1990’s Segalman was struggling with a painter’s version of “writer’s block”. “He was looking for a new direction, but was having difficulty deciding where to take his art”. Then, in 1993, the artist enrolled in a monoprint workshop taught by Kate McGloughlin at the Woodstock School of Art. “That opened up a whole new world for Richard!” Cox exclaimed. He delved into the process and created scores of images, describing the approach to McGloughlin as a method that “requires more spontaneity and represents a new loss of control…a loss that feels more connected with the limitlessness of the elements”.
Segalman’s monoprints were well received by his dealers and collectors, eventually leading to an exhibit in 2006 at New York’s esteemed Marlborough Gallery. Segalman’s work has also been represented by Davis and Graham Galleries in New York and Meyer-Munson Gallery in Santa Fe, NM. He is represented in over 40 museum permanent collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.
When Segalman, who had never been hospitalized until his cancer diagnosis, died at the age of 87, he left behind hundreds of devoted friends, students and patrons. As his favorite model and friend of 35 years, Ayesha Ibrahim, noted, “To be with Richard was to share everything, verbally and visually, about art and life and how it works.”
In August of 2021 a memorial tribute was held at the Woodstock School of Art, where Segalman taught for many years. Donning one of the artist’s props – a top hat – McGloughlin led the afternoon celebration of the beloved teacher’s life, sharing the stage with a coatrack draped with some of the many petticoat’s Segalman so artfully incorporated into his exquisite compositions. A group of his paintings was also on display as a standing room only crowd gathered in Studio One ,where Segalman conducted his classes.
A proud member of the gay community, Segalman spent the last weekend of his life in New York City attending gay pride events. He missed only two Gay Pride Parades since the celebration began in 1970.
“Forever Remembered” will be on view at the James Cox Gallery, 4666 Route 212, Willow, NY through September 4th . The public is invited to attend an opening reception for the exhibit Friday, July 29th from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.