Richardson has also worked as an industrial designer and as a reviewer for The New Observer. In 1952, he moved to Provence, where he became friends with Picasso, Léger and de Staël. In 1960, he moved back to New York and organized a nine-gallery Picasso retrospective. Christie’s then appointed him to open their US office, which he ran for the next nine years. In 1973 he joined New York gallery M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., as Vice President in charge of 19th and 20th-century painting, and later became Managing Director of Artemis, a mutual fund specializing in works of art.
In 1980, Richardson began devoting all of his time to biography of his Picasso. He has also been a contributor to The New Yorker and Vanity Fair. In 1993 Richardson was elected to the British Academy and in 1995 he was appointed Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford. In 2011, Richardson was awarded France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and in 2012, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
