Richard Todd doesn’t give himself airs and you would never catch him talking over somebody’s head. Even though he studied and associated with several renowned abstract expressionists, including Willem De Kooning and Vaclav Vitlacyl, he would never pontificate about his experience with the avant-garde. He studied with Vitlacyl for 15 years at the Art Student’s League in Manhattan, after studying at the Studio School in Brooklyn. Vitlacyl saw that Richard had talent and Richard was propelled forward on the strength both of his passion and of the recommendations he continuously inspired. He told me that Vitlacyl used to say to his students, “Painting is just this…” and he’d rub his fingers together against his thumb and smile enigmatically. Whatever that means, Richard must have understood it.