Ramon Shivá & Jack Richeson

by Sarah Judson April 07, 2014

Spanish American painter Ramon Shivá was born in Spain in 1893. He traveled in Greece, Turkey and Panama before coming to Chicago in 1910, where he worked at lithograph firms. He saw the New York Armory Show at the Chicago Art Institute in 1913, and this, the first large exhibit of avant-garde European and American art in the U.S., redirected him toward a more abstract, colorful and geometrical style. He studied at the Chicago Art Institute from 1913-1917 and became a member the the Palette & Chisel Academy. He also lectured at the Chicago Art Institute on the subject of color permanency. Trained in chemistry, he started developing his own line of oil and casein paint and lithographic inks, guided by the reactions of his many artist friends. Eventually, during the 1940s thru the 1950s, Shiva became the leading oil paint manufacturer in the United States. Shivá had a sixteen year–old errand boy by the name of Jack Richeson, who made deliveries to the factory and was fascinated by the paint making process. In the year 2002, a lifelong dream of Jack Richeson’s came true. Today Jack Richeson & Company is manufacturing all the original formulas of the 1950s that made Shiva oil the top brand in the United States. The current issue of The Artist's Magazine has a "road test" of the new Shiva oils by Brian Burt, which you can find here. (Scroll down to see the article.)
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