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Gerard Richardson
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston, MA
Gerard Richardson
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston, MA
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Gerard Richardson

American painter, 1910 - 1971
Born in New York, NY, (1910-1971) American artist, Gerard Richardson, has been generally recognized by art critics as one of the most important naval artists of the twentieth century

His famous painting "Heavenly Mist," which was a rendering of the sinking by a Japanese destroyer named The Morning Mist of the PT Boat 109 which bore President Kennedy during World War II, was a favorite of the President and remained in the White House until the assassination of President Kennedy.


Richardson did many of the colorful covers for "The Motor Boating Magazine," a Hearst publication. The original paintings hang in the Hearst World Headquarters in New York . Many of Richardson's work were commissioned by Yacht Clubs and several are owned by individual sportsmen. His paintings also hang in the Sam Rayburn Congressional Building in Washington DC and in the Lyndon Johnson Presidential Ranch and hang in many private collections.His work has been exhibited in many places in Europe, in New York City and at the Truxtan-Decatur Naval Museum, the Navy Department and the Pentagon, in Washington D.C. It has been marketed by the Knoedler and the Norton Galleries on 57th Street in New York and at the Venables Gallery on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D. C.

Gerard Richardson was born in New York City in 1910 of a long line of U.S. born citizens, but was educated in Europe. He studied art at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and while traveling in France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain and England.

Richardson was a Captain, later Commander in the Navy during World War II. Many of his paintings of famous ships and naval battles reside in the U. S. Naval Museum