Emma Richardson Cherry
    (1859-1954) Houston, Texas

     Cherry's subject matter was wide ranging. She painted views of Texas landscapes, figures and flowers.  She painted in oil, watercolor, and pastel.

     Cherry was born in Aurora, Illinois on February 28, 1859. She studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago and later enrolled in the Art Student League in New York City from 1882-1883. Her teachers were William Merritt Chase,  Henry Bainbridge McCarter, George de Forest Brush, Rhoda Holmes Nicholls, and Kenyon Cox. In Europe she studied in Paris at the Academies Julian, Delecluse and Merson. Her received her art instruction there from  Luc-Olivier Merson, Andre Lhote and Jules Lefebvre.

     After returning to America she taught a summer session at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and taught art at the University of Nebraska. In 1888 she moved to Denver, Colorado and then to Houston, Texas in 1893.

      Her home in Houston is now operated by the Harris County Heritage Society and was formerly the home of William Marsh Rice, who made a major contribution to establish Rice University.

     Cherry was important in the early development of Texas art in Houston. In 1900 she was co-founder of the Houston Public School Art League which is now The Museum of Fine Arts. She was also director of the Elisabet Ney Museum in Austin, Texas and helped organize the San Antonio Art League.

     Emma Richardson Cherry exhibited extensively during her career including the Art Institute of Chicago; World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago; Fort Worth Art Museum; Southern States Art League; Houston Art League; Edgar B. Davis Competition at the Witte Museum in San Antonio and others.