When Thomas Addison Richards was eleven his parents brought him to the United States. They resided briefly in New York State and South Carolina before settling in Penfield, Georgia. In 1838 Richards, who had spent his youth studying art, moved to Augusta where he provided drawing lessons and began developing his literary talents. In 1842 he combined his literary and artistic skills by publishing the travel guide, Georgia Illustrated, in a Series of Views. Eventually, however, Richards realized that he had to pursue more formal artistic training and in the autumn of 1844 he departed for New York City. Upon his arrival he enrolled in the National Academy's Antique School and within two years began contributing landscapes to the Academy's annual exhibitions. In 1852 he was elected Corresponding Secretary of the National Academy of Design, a post which he retained for the following forty years.
During the 1850s Richards continued to produce illustrated travel essays and many of his articles were published in the Knickerboker (SP??) and Harper's New Monthly Magazine. These efforts culminated in Appletons' Illustrated Hand-Book of American Travel which he published in 1857. In the following year he became involved with founding and organizing the Cooper Union School of Design for Women and for the following two years served as its director. During the Civil War Richards continued to reside in New York and his landscapes of the Hudson River Valley and New England were frequently exhibited at both the National Academy and Brooklyn Art Association. In 1867, after returning from a brief sojourn in Europe, he was appointed professor of art at New York University. He remained an active member of the faculty until 1879 and was an active member of the Academy until 1890. He continued to work as a landscape painter until the last years of his life.
