Jamie Wyeth

Contemporary realist painter Jamie Wyeth is best known for his depictions of wild and domestic animals, in addition to landscapes and portraits. An accomplished technical painter, Wyeth brings a lush tactility to his oil, watercolor, and mixed media work. The son of Andrew Wyeth and grandson of N.C. Wyeth, he is heir to the rich artistic traditions of the Brandywine School; much of his oeuvre is dedicated to documenting the landscapes, people and animals of the Brandywine River area of Delaware and Pennsylvania.

James “Jamie” Browning Wyeth was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1946, and was raised in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. He began his artistic training in the studio of his aunt, Carolyn Wyeth. As a teenager, he continued to paint with his father, absorbing his influence while also experimenting with a broader, more vivid palette. At the age of 20, Wyeth was commissioned to paint a posthumous Portrait of John F. Kennedy (1967); it has since become one of the most famous depictions of the former President. In the 1970s, Wyeth continued to paint high-profile subjects, including striking portraits of Andy Warhol and Rudolf Nureyev. Beyond portraiture, Wyeth mainly focuses on the people, animals and landscapes of Pennsylvania and Maine, where he divides his time to this day.

Wyeth is a member of the National Academy of Design and a council member of the National Endowment for the Arts. His work resides in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; the William A. Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine; and the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.