Andrew Wyeth
Born 12 July 1917, Chadds Ford, Pa., the son of illustrator and painter N.C. Wyeth, who instructed him in art. Family divided each year between Chadds Ford and New England, especially Port Clyde, Maine; a habit Wyeth has continued. Ill as a child, he was educated at home. 1932, submitted drawings to an exhibition at Delaware Art Center. 1936, exhibited at Art Alliance, Philadelphia. 1937, first one-man show, Macbeth Gallery, New York; work, mostly watercolors, sold out.
1940, married Betsy James. Learned tempera technique from Peter Hurd, his brother-in-law. 1941, exhibited temperas at Macbeth Gallery. 1943, included in "American Realists and Magic Realists" at Museum of Modern Art, New York. October 1945, accidental death of father. After this tragedy, began to focus more on painting people.
1952, Gold Medal, American Watercolor Society. 1963, first artist to receive Presidential Freedom Award. 1965, Gold Medal, National Institute of Arts and Letters. 1966, major exhibitions, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Baltimore Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Art Institute of Chicago. 1970, retrospective, Boston Museum of Fine Arts. 1973, The Art of Andrew Wyeth, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco. 1976–77, one-man exhibition, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
1977, first trip to Europe; inducted into French Academy of Fine Arts (only American artist so honored since Sargent). 1978, elected honorary member, Soviet Academy of the Arts. 1984, exhibition of works from his collection, Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford. Lives in Chadds Ford.
William Kloss Treasures from the National Museum of American Art (Washington, D.C. and London: National Museum of American Art with the Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985
