Yarde (Richard) is born in Roxbury.

The son of a machinist and seamstress, Richard Yarde studies at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and receives undergraduate and graduate fine arts degrees from Boston University. He goes on to teach at B.U., Wellesley College, and Massachusetts College of Art, then moves to Northampton to teach at the University of Massachusetts in 1981. Yarde works initially in oils and acrylics, but according to Boston Globe art critic Christine Temin becomes, “One of the great American water-colorists of the 20th century, as much a master of the medium as Homer was in the 19th.” He dies in Northampton on December 10, 2011.