Painting by Numbers - Rudi Reichardt

For as long as Rudi can remember, he has loved drawing and painting. The rugged and stormy landscape of the Black Forest, exposure to the great European masters, but above all, the music of the Baroque shaped his work and life. In 1946, at the age of 17, Rudi began his professional work by painting backdrops at the Karlsruhe Opera. Reichardt worked there until 1951, when he immigrated to Canada, where for the next twelve years, he worked as an interior decorator during the day painting murals, pictures and furniture for clients' homes. At night, immersing himself in the classical music he loved so much, he spent endless hours creating artworks, prints and posters of the southern Ontario countryside. Rudi Reichardt had the first public exhibition of his art, prints and posters in Toronto, Ontario in 1954. The big transition to independent painting occurred when in 1964, his paintings were personally selected by Vincent Price, a well-known actor and art connoisseur, for the Vincent Price Collection of Fine Art. This marked a turning point in the artist's life and brought his work to the attention of the art world. Since then, Reichardt's career has skyrocketed with countless solo exhibitions and a contract for four consecutive years for the International Harvesters of Canada.