Richard Haas

Prince Street Mural

101 Merrimack St., Boston, 1990

Artist’s Biography

Richard Haas was born in Spring Green, Wisconsin in 1936. His family moved to Milwaukee in 1943 and Richard attended the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee where he received a B.S. in Art and Art Education in 1959. He went on to receive his M.F.A from the University of Minnesota in 1964 and taught Art at Michigan State in East Lansing, Michigan (1964 – 1968). In 1968, after moving to New York City, he took a teaching position at Bennington College in Vermont where he was granted tenure. In 1980 he decided to pursue his art career full-time and resigned from his academic position. 

Richard has received numerous grants, honors and recognitions of merit, among them The American Institute of Architects Medal of Honor (1977), The Jimmy Ernst Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2005), The Municipal Art Society Award (1977), fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation (1983) and the National Endowment for the Arts (1987).  He received the Doris C. Freedman Award (1989) and a Distinguished Alumnus award from his Alma Mater, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in 1991. Additionally he received the westchesters Arts Council Artist Award, 

Richard Haas was elected as a National Academician in 1993. He was a member of the Academy Council from 2001-2010, chaired the Abbey Committee for 10 years and was President of the Academy from 2009-2011.

Of more than 120 public art works worldwide, the best known are The Boston Architectural College, The Peck Slip mural in New York City, the Edison Brothers/Sheraton Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri the Oregon Historical Society in Portland, the Fontainbleau mural in Miami Beach (defunct) along with several major projects in Fort Worth, Texas. Interior murals have also been commissioned for numerous public buildings in the United States. These include The Nashville Public Library; The Periodical Room in the main branch of the New York Public Library, The Lakewood Public Library, Cincinnati, OH, Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, the Robert C. Byrd Federal Building & Courthouse in Beckley, West Virginia and the Sarasota County Judicial Center in Florida. 

Mr. Haas painted daily in his studio in New York City and during the pandemic from his home in Yonkers. He actively follows the contemporary art scene as well as attending museum exhibitions in the greater New York area.