Life and Artistic Beginnings
Born in Barmen, Germany, Richard Paling was the son of Andreas Johannes Paling and Maria. He was part of a family of piano makers from Holland, which included the painter Johannes Jacobus Paling and the musician William Henry Paling. After attending school in Barmen, Paling studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule Barmen from 1918 to 1919 under Gustav Wiethüchter and Ludwig Fahrenkrog. He later attended the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf between 1920 and 1923, studying under Heinrich Nauen, and visited the Bauhaus in Weimar in 1923.
Paling was a founding member of the artist group Kameradschaftliche Vereinigung junger Barmer Maler – Die Wupper, which first performed publicly in 1920. He was also part of the Wupperkreis, a group that included artists such as Alfred Hoffmann, Wilhelm Nagel, Ewald Platte, and Paul Wellershaus. During his life, he was a member of the Reichskammer der bildenden Künste and was affected by the 1937 Entartete Kunst action, which resulted in the seizure of thirty of his paintings from various museums.
Artistic Style and Subject Matter
The works of Richard Paling encompass a variety of subjects, including landscapes, portraits, still lifes, animal depictions, and figure studies. His early landscape paintings were characterized by a muted color palette, but around 1930, his work shifted toward experimentation with forms and colors, producing high-quality watercolors. His landscapes are often noted for strong contrasts of light and shadow. In his later years, he produced oil paintings and watercolors, some of which incorporated mosaic stones and fabric to depict biblical themes.
Paling's output included various media, such as:
His drawings often focused on everyday scenes, such as children playing, people working, and urban or natural settings like forests, beaches, and mountains. His etchings from 1922 include portraits of his first wife and friends, female nudes, still lifes, and landscapes.
