Richard McLean was an American painter and leading member of the Photorealist movement. Best known for his equestrian paintings, his intensely detailed and lifelike depictions of horses and their riders established him as a unique voice within the movement. Born in 1934 in Hoquiam, WA, McLean graduated with a BFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts, where he had studied under Richard Diebenkorn, and received an MFA from Mills College in 1962. Like other photorealists like Chuck Close, Richard Estes, Ralph Goings and Robert Bechtle, he was included in the exhibitions Twenty-Two Realists at the Whitney Museum of American Art (1970).