Richard Carver Haines was a respected figure in Southern California art circles following World War II. He began his career in the Midwest, studying at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts with John Morton (1876-1934) and at the Minneapolis School of Art. In 1934 he won a scholarship enabling him to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Fontainebleau and visit England, Germany, Italy, Spain, and North Africa.
Haines first worked as a commercial artist, designing greeting cards and calendars. During the depression he was active in the Works Progress Administration and was awarded several mural commissions from the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture to decorate post offices in the Midwest. In 1941 he settled permanently in Santa Monica. After World War II Haines devoted much of his time to teaching, first at Chouinard Art Institute for five years and then at the Los Angeles County Art Institute (Otis Art Institute) until 1974, heading the department from 1952 to 1964. In 1950 he was elected president of the California Water Color Society. He served as a combat artist in Vietnam for the United States Navy in 1967.
His paintings, watercolors, prints, tapestries, and murals reveal a strong sense of abstract design, line, and color. Primarily a figure painter, he also painted landscapes, and over the years his subjects changed from the specific to the universal. A poetic, almost magical mood pervades many of his late works.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Private collection, Richard Haines Papers (on microfilm, Archiv. Am. Art) § Janice Lovoos, "The Paintings of Richard Haines," American Artist 27 (April 1963): 50-57,84-86 § Moure 1975, pp. 16, 45, with bibliography § Los Angeles, Dalzell Hatfield Galleries, Richard Haines: "El Desierto y la Mar," exh. cat., 1977, with lists of awards, teaching positions, and murals § Abraxas Gallery, Newport Beach, Calif., Richard Haines: A Selection of Paintings from 1947-1979, exh. cat., 1979, with statement by the artist, bibliography, lists of exhibitions, awards, teaching positions, collections, murals, and architectural designs.
