Rags to Riches

A new exhibition at the Sid Richardson Museum shines a bright light on the museum’s namesake.

Though his name is on the building and his art collection is featured throughout his museum, visitors have left the Sid Richardson Museum with an incomplete picture of who exactly Sid Richardson was. The museum hopes to fill in those gaps with a new exhibition, A Fortune in Oils: Sid Richardson’s Personal Collection, now on view at the museum in Fort Worth, Texas. Charles M. Russell (1864-1926), Returning to Camp, 1901, oil on canvas, 241/8 x 36”. Courtesy Sid Richardson Museum, Fort Worth, Texas.

“It’s a way to retell the story of Sid and who he was, but also put it into context with his collection and museum,” says the museum’s director Scott Winterrowd, who finished developing the exhibition after it was started by his predecessor, Mary Burke, who retired in August. “Our visitors were asking to know more about the founder, and we thought this show would be a good way to tell them who he was.”Frederic Remington (1861-1909), A Taint on the Wind, 1906, oil on canvas 271/8 x 40”. Courtesy Sid Richardson Museum, Fort Worth, Texas.

Richardson, born in 1891, was an oilman who struck it big in the 1920s near Wichita Falls, Texas. But luck would not shine on him forever: After making $2 million he went bust as the oil market turned. But he kept at it, and after begging and pleading his way to get the backing he needed for another oil venture, he roared back into the game in 1933 with a huge strike in Keystone Field of West Texas.William R. Leigh (1866-1955), The Hold Up (The Ambush), 1903, oil on canvas, 32¾ x 22¾”. Courtesy Sid Richardson Museum, Fort Worth, Texas.

With oil pouring out of the ground, Richardson established a number of companies to support his oil ventures, and he also acquired several working ranches, as well as playing a critical role in the preservation of the Texas longhorn. With his fortune growing, Richardson was dubbed the “billionaire bachelor” and later had his wealth estimated at more than $700 million by Ladies Home Journal. Suitors came knocking, including Joan Crawford, and he rebuffed them all, preferring his bachelor lifestyle on his ranch around things he loved.Charles M. Russell (1864-1926), The Marriage Ceremony (Indian Love Call), 1894, oil on cardboard, 18½ x 245/8”. Courtesy Sid Richardson Museum, Fort Worth, Texas.

He started collecting art in 1942 and the collection grew until his death in 1959. While Western art appealed to Texas oilmen in that era, and still today, there was no single spark that lit the fuse on his collecting, though his friendship with Amon Carter was influential. “His friendship with Amon Carter was certainly a motivating factor. They both worked with [famed dealer] Bertram Newhouse and were often vying for the same Frederic Remingtons and Charlies Russells,” Winterrowd says. “For Richardson, with his oil fields and ranches, the Old West was a natural appeal to him.”Esther Bubley (1921-1998), Keystone Field, Derricks and Sand Dunes, photograph

In 1947 the collector created the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, which is dedicated to serving the people of Texas and has contributed more than $503 million to human services, education and arts and culture initiatives across the state. The museum itself was created in 1982 and serves as the permanent home to Richardson’s vast collection, which includes 24 Remingtons and 52 Russells, as well as works from William R. Leigh, Charles Schreyvogel, Frank Tenney Johnson, Oscar E. Berninghaus and many others.

A Fortune in Oils: Sid Richardson’s Personal Collection is now on view and will remain until March 2020. —

A Fortune in Oils: Sid Richardson’s Personal Collection
Through March 2020
Sid Richardson Museum,
309 Main Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102
(817) 332-6554,
www.sidrichardsonmuseum.org