Ted Richardson, 1985

OBITUARY from THE EVENING SUN

Tuesday, December 30, 1986
by Carl Schoettler

Ted Richardson, a Highlandtown screen painter who decorated thousands of East Baltimore homes with his work, died yesterday of cancer at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He was 85. A sparkling, versatile man who had been a brick mason, a radio repairman, a boat dock proprietor and an accomplished musician who played banjo-ukulele and saxophone, Richardson was perhaps best-known for the artful screen painting he did in the 1960’s. He achieved a distinctive style characterized by strong black outlines, crisp angular buildings and bridges and low white bushes bordering the paths and lakes, according to Elaine Eff, the city folklorist who is the major chronicler of the definitively Baltimoresque art of screen painting. Richardson’s hallmark for years was the blue roof on the cottage in the traditional screen scene of homestead, winding path, lake and swans. “I don’t think all roofs ought to be red,” he told Eff. “When they didn’t ask for red, I gave them a blue roof.” His swans were often paired in black and white with wings spread as if poised for flight. “If the customers didn’t tell me what they want,” he said, “I’d paint a picture out of my head. My work looked more real than the ordinary person’s. I never rushed my work. I took the time to do the right thing. Richardson was one of the few screen painters who signed his work sometimes with a stamp “By Ted Richardson” in his own script, then later with a plastic label: “Ted Richardson Screen Artist.” According to where he was living at the time, he was known as “The Painter From South Lehigh Street…From North Linwood Avenue…From Eastern Avenue.” His sample book from the 1960’s showed colored snapshots of 222 designs he could execute on demand. He told Eff he had painted thousands and thousands of screens. He quit screen painting in 1969 and locked away his equipment. But he was coaxed out of retirement in 1982 and had been busy every since. His late paintings occasionally included panda bears in their idyllic landscapes. Richardson considered the screen he did for the Hatton Senior Citizens Center in Canton his finest work. He painted a view of Patterson Park that included the Pagoda, the boat lakes and a portrait of himself as a young man playing the banjo-ukulele. He taught screen painting at the center and at workshops of the Painted Screen Society of Baltimore. He recently appeared in a film being made by Baltimore Traditions, the city’s folklore office. “When I’m finished and the Lord calls me,” he told the filmmakers “I’m going to take my brushes and paint them clouds.” Edward Arthur James Richardson, known universally as Ted, was born in London April 19, 1901. His father, Arthur James Richardson was an artist and brick mason; his mother, Martha, a nurse. He was the oldest of five children. His brother, Ben, is a renowned screen painter in his own right. Ben began painting screens in the 1930’s after watching the East Baltimore craftsmen as he made his rounds as a bill collector. He claims to have taught his older brother the art. Their father brought his family to Baltimore by way of Canada and Florida. He took his son, Ted, as a bricklayer apprentice in 1918. Ted Richardson remained in the trade until 1965, more or less simultaneously with his screen painting. Ted and Ben, who was known as “Smiling Benny,” a champion fiddler despite the loss of four fingers on his right hand in an industrial accident, formed the Blue Ridge Rangers, a band that became well known in such country bars in Highlandtown as Slim Brow’s. Ted later played with the Garden City Orchestra. Richardson was active at the Abbott Memorial Presbyterian Church Senior Citizens Eating Together Program where he ate every day and often entertained, playing his banjo-ukulele and the spoons.

My father is buried next to his parents at Meadowridge Memorial Park in Elkridge, Maryland, his brother Ben resting just a few yards away.

Gravestone of Ted Richardson

Teddie Richardson, 1902, London, England

The sequenced music tune is Abide with Me, compliments of Barry Taylor at
Taylor's Traditional Tunebook.

Abide with me! Fast falls the eventide.
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee;
Help of the helpless, O abide with me!

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| Memorial to Edward Arthur James Richardson |   | Primrose Day ~ April 19th |   | The Screen Painters of Baltimore |   | Ted Richardson in the News, 1985 |   | Uncle Ben's Stories |   | Ben Richardson in LA Times |   | Ben Richardson, Washington Post |   | Ben Richardson, Baltimore Sun |   | Ben Richardson, 1967 News Clipping |   | Ben Richardson in The News American |   | Ben in Forgotten Folk Arts |   | Harry Richardson and Family |   | Aunt Flo's Letters |   | Aunt Florrie's Journal |   | Frank Arthur Edward Heming, World War 1 |   | Letters From Arthur |   | Grandfather's Memoirs |   | Arthur Richardson Memoirs 1 |   | Arthur Richardson Memoirs 2 |   | Richard Richardson's Story |   | Edward and Emily's Saga|   | Dr. Jamison and the Boer War |   | Hounslow Heath, England |   | Hounslow, England 1831 |   | Farm Laborer's Cottage of 1860s |   | John and Polly Mills|   | Smith Family of Chelmsford |   | Richardson Genealogy & Scrapbook |   | Links of Interest |

"RICHARDSONs from Hounslow Heath ~ Ted Richardson's Obituary",
Copyright © 2001-2004 by Edna Richardson Barney, All Rights Reserved.

Thanks to Ritva Väänänen at Ritva's Gallery and The Graphics Cupboard for the backgrounds. The primroses were gathered at Lise's Garden. This page was last modified on 10 May 2004.

~*~ A Neddy Creation ~*~