NORMAN ROCKWELL | PORTRAIT OF RICHARD SLOAN

The artist

Robert Sloan (the sitter; gift from the above)

By descent to the present owner

Laurie Norton Moffatt, Norman Rockwell: A Definitive Catalogue, vol. II, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 1986, no. P156, p. 1018

Known by many as America's "Dean of Rainforest Painters," Richard Sloan was born in 1935 and received his early training at Chicago's American Academy of Art. He served as a staff artist for Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, where he developed his affinity and appreciation for birds. Following a 1966 sell-out exhibition at the Abercrombie & Fitch Gallery, Sloan traveled to British Guiana to garner inspiration. He would travel extensively for the remainder of his life and is regarded as the first North American wildlife artist to begin documenting endangered, tropical wildlife and habitats. Sloan's work can be found in the permanent collections of various institutions, including The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., The Leigh Yakwey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, Wisconsin and The Denver Museum of Natural History, Denver, Colorado, among others.