Richard Whitney
Town and Country magazine has named Richard Whitney one of the top twelve portrait painters in America. He is internationally known for his realistic paintings and has been called “one of the best living artists of our generation”. Whitney was recently honored by Sotheby’s of New York as a living master of the classical tradition. He has won over 40 regional and national awards and three grants from the Greenshields’ Foundation of Montreal. Whitney’s paintings hang in over 750 public and private collections throughout the United States and abroad. They include the Anchorage Museum of Art and History, the Anderson House Museum, the Newark Museum, the Pentagon, Harvard University, and the Catholic University of Portugal.
Born in 1946, Whitney graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of New Hampshire in 1968. He studied with Sidney F. Willis and with the eminent Boston painter, R. H. Ives Gammell for five years. Memberships have included the Society of Illustrators, the National Arts Club, Allied Artists of America, the American Artists Professional League, the American Society of Classical Realism, the Guild of Boston Artists and the Copley Society (Copley Master). He is a board member of the American Renaissance of the Twenty-first Century and the Art Renewal Center, soon to be the world’s largest on line museum. He is also an Emeritus member and past Chairman of the Advisory Board of the American Society of Portrait Artists Foundation, the largest portrait society in the world. In 2015, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the University of New Hampshire.
Whitney’s paintings have been seen on national cable television and have been the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles. He was the cover artist for the April 1982 issue of American Artist and was featured again in April 2000. Whitney is the author of Painting the Visual Impression and a co-author of the book Realism in Revolution: The Art of the Boston School. His paintings have also been reproduced in the book Edmund C. Tarbell and the Boston School of Painting. Whitney has traveled and painted in Europe, Japan, Alaska and the Caribbean and has lectured and conducted workshops throughout the United States. He is listed in a dozen reference books including, Who’s Who in American Art, Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who in the 21st Century.
Commissions:
Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor under President Clinton
James Webb Jr., Secretary of the Navy under President Bush, the Pentagon
Lane Kirkland, President, AFL-CIO, Washington
Dr. J. William Littler, World Renowned Hand Surgeon
Cardinal Humberto Medeiros, Catholic University of Portugal
Tanio Nakamura, Curator of the Tokyo National Museum
Takezo Hirato, CEO, Mazda Corporation, Yokohama
asuyuki Nambu, CEO, Temporary Center, Tokyo
A.Sadeghi-.Nejad, Minister of Culture for Iran, Tehran
Frederick Hart Family Mural (8’x 13’), Vietnam Memorial Sculptor
Father McGivney, Founder, Knights of Columbus
US Senator Thomas J. McIntyre of New Hampshire
Governors of New Hampshire: John Sununu, John King, Hugh Gregg & Hugh Gallen
Kevin Harrington, Jr., Senate President of Massachusetts
Edward J. McCormack, Jr., Attorney General of Massachusetts
John Cunningham, Executive Vice President, Wang Corporation
John J. Shields, III, CEO, Prime Computer Corporation
Bruce Ferguson, Developer of the Pegasus Rocket
Alain Briottet, Consul General of France, Boston
Otto Eckstein, Economist, Harvard University
Rev. Malcolm J. Sutherland, Jr., University of Chicago
Ralph Manuel, Provost & W.Lee Pelton, Dean, Dartmouth College
Edwin J. Delattre, President, St. Johns College
Ruth Chauncey Bishop, Dean & Roberta Smith, New England Genealogical Society Benefactors
Drs. Edward & Roy Carlson, Mt. Ida College
John A. Caddell, CEO, Blount Construction Corporation, Montgomery
Attorney David Armstrong, Pittsburgh
Frank Sawyer, Benefactor, Suffolk University
Richard Unsworth, Headmaster, Berkshire School, Sheffield, MA
Mary Macdonald & Nick Thorndike, CEO, Massachusetts General Hospital
Robert Shafto, CEO, The New England
William McMillan, Headmaster, Pine Crest School, Fort Lauderdale
Andrew M. Carter, Financier, Boston
Jan Mitchell, Benefactor, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Dominic S. F. Lee, Benefactor, Anchorage Historical and Fine Arts Museum
Thomas Brush, Benefactor, & John Ratte, Headmaster, Loomis Chaffee School
Wilson Wilde, CEO, Hartford Steamboiler Inspection & Insurance Company
Philip Koerner, CEO, National Grange Mutual Corporation
Dr. Leo Redfern, President, Keene State College
Maxwell Belding, CEO, DaQui Belding Partners, Rocky Hill, CT
Stuart Watson, CEO, Heublin Corporation
Dr. James Glenn, CEO, Mt. Sinai Hospital, NYC
Dr. James Houck, CEO, Institute of Living, Hartford
Leonard Natman, Brooklyn Academy of Music, NYC
Leo Kraszeski, CEO, Sailors Snug Harbor, Sea Level, NC
Rev. Paul Karnes, President, Unitarian Universalist Association of America
Gifford Foley, Benefactor, The Kent School
Thomas Carter Family Portrait, Houston
John Curry & Kenneth Ryder, Northeastern University Presidents Emeritus
Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts