Richard Maris Loving

1924 - 2021

Dedicated artist and professor Richard Maris Loving passed away on March 27, 2021, in Oak Park, Illinois. He was 97. Richard was born on January 27, 1924, in Vienna, Austria where his American parents, both writers, were living at the time. His family moved to New York City when he was five where he attended Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bard College, The New School for Social Research, and the Art Students League. He bribed his way into New York City morgues at night in order to study anatomy by drawing partially dissected bodies. Through his wife at the time, Frances Elizabeth Brando, he met actor Wally Cox who taught him the enamel process, and together they had a jewelry business headquartered in Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan. When he moved to the Brando family farm west of Mundelein, Illinois in 1953, he built a large kiln in a shed and his primary medium became large enamel works on copper, incorporating some enamels into sculptures. In the late sixties, he moved to a loft in Chicago, where he turned his focus first to drawings of machines and then to abstract paintings in oil on canvas. In his later years, he moved to Oak Park and continued to paint large works until a couple of years before his death. He taught drawing, painting, and anatomy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1971-2004. His work has been exhibited in many solo and group shows and is represented in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; David and Albert Smart Museum, University of Chicago; Illinois State Museum; AT & T Corporate Headquarters, NJ; Prudential Insurance Company, NJ; the Enamel Arts Foundation; as well as numerous other private collections. He is survived by his two daughters Julia Maris Loving and Katharine Gahan Loving and his companion of many years Katherine R. Bateman. His youngest daughter Zoe Elizabeth Loving predeceased him in 2009. To view Richard's work - http://www.richardloving.com. In lieu of flowers, please support your favorite arts organizations. Services will be private. Arrangements by Brian Powell Funeral Directors of Hinsdale. For information 630-703-9131 or www.powellfuneraldirectors.com