Richard Kemble, 74, a partner in Forager House Collection, died at his winter home in Key West, Fla., April 21 after a long series of illnesses.
Richard and his partner George Korn were regulars on the antique show circuit during the 1980s and 90s, exhibiting at the Delaware Antiques Show, The Pier Show for the Museum of American Folk Art, Hunt Valley, Alexandria, New Hope, Boston, the Rhode Island Antiques Show, The August Show on Nantucket and were the founders and exhibitors of The Key West Antiques Show.
The two opened a shop on Nantucket under their trade name, Forager House, in the early 1980s. In 2003, after 20 years, Richard’s declining health dictated that they close up the shop and for the past three years have only exhibited at the Nantucket and Key West Antique shows.
Richard was born on November 7, 1932, in Erie, Penn. He moved to England in his first year with his parents, where he was raised during the war. He spent his early years with grandparents in East Anglica to avoid the bombing in London. At 18 he returned to the United States. Having dual citizenship, he enlisted in the US Air Force.
After his discharge he moved to Buffalo and taught at the State University of New York at Buffalo and danced with the Buffalo Ballet. He later taught at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. After nearly 20 years, he gave up academics after having received one of the first printmaker’s fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1974, and devoted his career full-time to creating art.
His artwork has been included in well over 200 exhibitions worldwide and he is represented in the public collections of more than 100 museums and corporations. A few of these museums include the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Newark Museum, The New Jersey State Museum, and The Smithsonian Institution, The Key West Museum of Art and History and the Nantucket Historical Association.
He met his partner George Korn in 1965 and the two recently celebrated their 42nd anniversary with a number of friends in their Key West home.
In addition to their interest in art and antiques, they owned and operated Forager House, a restaurant in New Hope, Penn., where they earned a two-star rating in The New York Times.
Richard is survived by George and a brother David of New Jersey.
