A native of Hollis, Oklahoma, Jean Richardson earned her B.F.A. degree from Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, and continued study with the Art Students League in New York. Her work has been exhibited at the national Academy of Design, the Minnesota Museum of Art, the Gilcrease Museum, and the Philbrook Museum. Richardson’s murals are at the Oklahoma State Capital building, the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and the Oklahoma City Courthouse. Her recognizable imagery has been explored in two books published about her painting.

Expressing the spirit and energy of the American West, Richardson’s paintings often feature abstract horses galloping across the canvas or standing in the moonlight. Her style has been described as “contemporary abstraction with suggestions of figurative symbolism.” Subject matter is often secondary, and simply suggested; the works engage viewers to draw from themselves some feelings of the land from which her paintings draw their inspiration.