Richard E. Artswager was born December 26,1923 in Washington Dc. His parents were European immigrants, Earnest Artswager (father) was born in Prussia and Eugenia Artschwager (mother) was was born in the Ukraine. Earnest was a Protestant botanist and Eugenia an amateur artist and designer, in which Richard found his passion for art. In 1935 the family moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico due to his father health problems resulting from tuberculosis. Here is where Richard began drawing studies of the landscape. In 1941 he attended Cornell University Receiving a BA in Chemistry and mathematics. In 1944 he was Sent to England for military duty in World War II, suffering from a head injury he was then positioned to Administrative Duty in Frankfurt, Germany. He later was assigned to intelligence posting in Vienna where he met his wife, Elfriede Wejelka (The two would conceive a child and later divorce in 1971.). After he returned from war in 1947, he went back to school and received a bachelor of arts in physics in the late winter of 1948 and in 1949 the family moved to New York City with an occupation in baby photography. During that year he used part of his G.I. bill he apprenticed under Amédée Ozenfant in Paris for a year.  During the 1950’s he abandoned his artwork to produce furniture and insure a stable income. His passion for creating furniture that was modern yet simple pieces which would inspire later successful art. He had a successful career and unfortunately passed away on Feburary 9,2013 a week after what would his final exhibition.