Richard Sparks
Richard Sparks (b. 1944) is an American artist and illustrator whose distinguished career has spanned fine art, portraiture, editorial illustration, and commissioned work for some of the nation's most prominent institutions and publications.
Born in Texas, Sparks earned a degree in Architecture at Texas A&M, before he was awarded a scholarship to Art Center College of Design in California, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Illustration, with Distinction. He will say his favorite accomplishment there, however, was meeting his artist wife, Barbara, to whom he has been married for 58 years.
Sparks relocated to Connecticut when his work attracted commissions from major New York periodicals and publishing houses, as he became a sought-after contributor to the world of editorial illustration. Among them: Forbes (cover), Sports Illustrated, Boy's Life (cover), Redbook, House Beautiful, Reader's Digest, MBI and Easton Press.
Sparks created a number of commissioned portraits for TIME, including five covers, depicting some of the most influential figures of his era. These works are now part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. The collection includes his portraits of Mstislav Rostropovich, Menachem Begin, Woody Allen, François Mitterrand, and Pope John Paul II.
Sparks' work has found its way into the permanent collections of numerous distinguished institutions and organizations, including Harvard Club of New York City, ExxonMobil, Texas A&M University, Time-Life, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, the National Archives, Seattle Opera, and the Academy of Art College in San Francisco.
Richard Sparks' art has also reached a broad public audience through reproduction as limited-edition prints, posters, and United States postage stamps, extending his work far beyond the walls of galleries and private collections.
Today, Richard Sparks' work reflects the nostalgia of his Texas roots and life on "the farm," his time in California and in the High Desert, and his most recent history, raising his family on the Connecticut coast.
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