RICHARD SLOAN 1935 - 2007

Yesterday, Richard Sloan, the "Dean of Rainforest Painters," was found dead in his home at age 71. Dick began his career as an illustrator for the Lincoln Park Zoo, in his native Chicago. I first became aware of him in the early 1970s, through his beautiful paintings of predatory birds, and I was probably representative of his fan base at that time. His career as a raptor painter culminated in the beautiful Raptors Of Arizona, published in 1998, which featured 42 Sloan illustrations. A 1969 trip to (then) British Guiana changed Dick's life forever, and he returned obsessed with tropical biology. He made numerous trips to the tropics (including one in 1995 to the Iquitos region of Peru, that I was privileged to join him on) and began to focus on rainforest subjects in his art. For several years he found it difficult to garner the attention for his rainforest work that his raptor paintings had enjoyed, but he persisted, and eventually developed a strong following, carving a path for those of us who would follow his footsteps. In 1994, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum named him a "Master Wildlife Artist," one of the greatest honors a wildlife painter can achieve. He was also twice bestowed the Society of Animal Artists' highest honor, the "Award of Excellence." After the death of his wife, Dick moved to Florida, and in the last decade of his life discovered scuba diving, which he relished, expanding his artistic endeavors to depicting the world beneath the ocean's surface. While walking on the beach about two years ago, he stepped on a piece of glass, sustaining a cut and recalcitrant infection that brought him a great deal of undeserved misery, and recently he had been plagued with severe back pain, for which he was scheduled to undergo surgery in two days.
I first met Dick in the early '90s, and we soon found we had a lot in common, becoming very good friends. He was extremely generous, and was an ardent champion of my own work. My career would have been far less successful without him in my corner, and I'll always be grateful to him for that, and for the many jungle hikes, canoe trips, drunken card games and dirty email jokes by which I'll remember him. Above is my favorite Richard Sloan painting, "A Little Romance," depicting a pair of courting Great Pied Hornbills (Buceros bicornis). This painting, and a number of others, is part of the Art of the Rainforest exhibition currently installed at the exhibit hall of the Detroit Zoo.
On a happier note, another distinguished artist is 45 years old today. Happy birthday to my brother Mark!!