Last summer the world lost Richard Segalman, a humble artist, who started his artistic expression in Naples in the 1950s in the Anchor bar owned by his aunt, Fran Gilman, and uncle, Bill Freschel, two of the earliest Jewish residents of Naples. His early artwork was sold for $5 a piece. Through a congenial fork in the road Richard traveled during his remarkable six-decade-long career, his artwork is now in over 40 permanent collections in museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
To have known Richard was to experience a ray of sunshine. His Naples paintings exude brightness and happiness, yet to have looked into Richard Segalman’s eyes was to know that deep inside he had been a troubled man. Perhaps not always, but through at least a part of his long life. He did not sound, look or act his age, because he had gained, through self-exploration and his prolific work, a plateau of inner satisfaction only those of us who are blessed to work at what they love doing most, are fortunate to reach. His is a lesson, among others, in perseverance.Why is it important to watch the short Southwest Florida Jewish Pioneers film Richard Segalman, A Man and His Art? In it, the artist addresses his struggles, conflicts, searches and the ultimate gratification in the general context of reminiscing about his Naples years.