Discovery

Richard unfortunately passed away peacefully in March of 2023 (https://www.giancolafuneral.com/obituary/richard-harris). Questions regarding his collection can be directed to [email protected].

The first exhibition was at the Chicago Cultural Center [“Morbid Curiosity”] in their 14,000 sq. ft. space which was attended by over 138,000 visitors. The second exhibition [“Death: A Self Portrait”] was at the Wellcome Collection in London in their 7,000 sq. ft. space with attendance of 136,000 visitors averaging 1,600/day. Two recent additions to the Collection that already included "The Cultures of Death," and "War" [Death on Steroid] The Civil War, W.W.l, W.W.ll and the Vietnam War are: "The Holocaust Collection,” and an “African-American Collection” that includes Slavery, Civil War, KKK/Lynching, The Civil Rights Movement, Black Power to today’s Media headlines of “Hands Up”/ “Black Lives Matter.” The uniqueness of the Collection is that it is not a "Trophy Collection" but rather a very powerful overview of the subject of "Death" containing Ephemera, Vernacular Photographs, Ethnographic objects, Kitsch and Masterpieces in most every medium from 2000B.C. to today.

Another Collection that was just recently completed was a commission given to the artist Balint Zsako, The commission was to create 435 unique miniature collages, and incorporating each in an Old Master painting reproduction. This breathtaking technical and artistic achievement is spectacular.

A third Collection, "De humani Corporis," [Human Anatomy] features three important parts. The first is the complete Anatomical works in books and prints of Gautier Dagoty, the great French 18th century anatomist. The second part is Balint Zsako's wonderful original collages based on the works of three of the greatest Anatomists, Vesalius, Albinus and Bourgery. The last part contains the complete set of ten original Anatomical paintings of Pauline Lariviere.

The Audubon and the "De humani Corporis" collections have never been exhibited nor have "The African American Experience" and the "Holocaust" Collections."