Emma Richardson Cherry, Watercolorist

Some Beautiful Paintings To Soothe Bruised Souls

View of Mt. Etna, Taormina, Sicily, 1910.

Today, to soothe bruised souls, some beautiful watercolors by Houston artist Emma Richardson Cherry.

My Houston readers know the trauma we’ve faced in the week since Hurricane Beryl tore through our city - and those of you who are “Randy Readers” elsewhere (love that phrase - coined by one of you) may have read about our trials.

There was rain, torrents of rain; and wind, lashings of wind. The deluge and the howl lasted hours – so long it seemed forever. Eventually the storm did end, going on north to terrorize those who live there, as it had terrorized others even before it got to Houston - leaving the ground smothered in a blanket of fallen limbs, many streets blocked and houses bashed by fallen trees, and those of us who live here dazed and confused.

“Power” (as in electricity, which means air conditioning to cool these 100 degree days and soothe these damaged souls) has become the word on everyone’s lips: Power out? Got Power yet? Still Powerless? We know the meaning of that last one for sure now.

But rather than fixate on all this trouble and trauma, I offer today, for a little while, the respite of Mrs. Cherry’s masterful watercolors - because she was a master of the form - and she didn’t shy away from making gorgeous paintings. As I’m sure you’ll agree when you’ve glanced down the page at these splendid works.

Be safe - and soothed - and soon, if not already, powered (and cooled) again.

Emma Richardson Cherry, 1859-1954.

Emma Richardson Cherry’s watercolors, in the collection of The Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park.

Rainy Afternoon, Giverny, 1888/89. Emma Richardson Cherry was the first woman documented to have painted at Giverny, France.

Giverny, 1888/89.

Beached, ca1890s, Western Art Collection, Denver Public Library.

TECO, 1904. Possibly done as a prospective advertising piece for the TECO Pottery Company.

Capri, Italy, 1910. ER Cherry’s watercolor and the same scene photographed by the author in 2023.

Assisi, 1910, by ER Cherry (l); and Assisi, by her contemporary, American Maurice Prendergast, ca. late 1890s.

Fishermen’s Homes, Giudecca, Venice, Italy, 1910.

Afternoon Clouds, Seabrook [Texas], ca.1914.

Bridge at Chartres, ca.1925.

Travel Notes North Africa: Constantine [Algeria], 1926.

Island of Majorca, 1926.

Early Morning, n.d. Astronaut-artist Alan Bean is reported to have said, when he viewed this painting, that Cherry got the color and light of space exactly as he saw them on his trip to the Moon many decades after she painted.