Richard Whitney (artist)

Richard Whitney (born 1946 in Vermont), is an American painter, author and educator. Town & Country magazine has named him one of the top dozen portrait painters in America. Fine Art Connoisseur has called him one of "the giants of the field" of figurative painting.

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. Whitney has published Mr. Gammell's letters to him in the book Advice to a Young Artist. Whitney's paintings have been seen on national cable television and have been the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles. He has traveled and painted in Europe, Japan, Alaska and the Caribbean and has lectured and conducted workshops throughout the United States.

Whitney has painted nearly 400 portraits including numerous CEOs of industry, presidents of universities and educational leaders as well as family and individual portraits. He has painted ten US Governors including Mitt Romney; US Senators Tom McIntyre, Judd Gregg and James Webb, Jr.; Nobel Laureates Paul Samuelson and Dr. Phillip A. Sharp; Secretary of Labor Robert Reich; Cardinal Humberto Medeiros; Father McGivney, Founder of the Knights of Columbus; actor Ethan Hawke and John Glenn.

Whitney's portraits and landscapes hang in over 800 public and private fine art collections worldwide. They include the Anchorage Museum of Art and History; the Anderson House Museum; the Newark Museum; the Pentagon; Harvard, Yale, and Stanford universities; and the Catholic University of Portugal. He has won over 50 regional and national awards as well as three grants from the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation of Montreal. Whitney was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of New Hampshire in 2015.

Whitney is the author of the book Painting the Visual Impression which summarizes the basic principles of representational painting and has been read by artists and art lovers world-wide. He is also a co-author of the book Realism in Revolution: The Art of the Boston School. He recently celebrated a fifty year career as a professional artist by publishing a retrospective of his work The Art of Richard Whitney with 275 paintings and the stories behind them.

He is listed in many reference books, including Who's Who in American Art, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World and Who's Who in the 21st Century. Whitney and his artist wife Sandy Sherman live on Crescent Pond in Stoddard, New Hampshire.

Professional organizations

Allied Artists of America - Honorary Lifetime Member
American Artists Professional League - Honorary Lifetime Member
American Society of Portrait Artists - Chairman Emeritus
American Society of Classical Realism
Copley Society - Lifetime Membership
The Guild of Boston Artists

Awards - Partial Listing

1970 - 1973

Three Grants - Elizabeth T. Greenshields Memorial Foundation – Montreal

1975

Third Gold Medal - Jordan Marsh Show - Boston

1976

Anonymous Award in Oil - Knickerbocker Artists National Exhibition – New York City

1977

Grumbacher Award in Oils - Academic Artists National Exhibition – New York City

1978

Finalist - American Artist Magazine National Art Competition – New York City

1980

Honorable Mention - Jubilee 350 Competition for New England Artists - Boston
The Crescent Gallery, Ltd. Award - Allied Artists National Exhibition – New York City

1982

Cover Artist - "American Artist" Magazine - April

1984

Gold Medal - American Artist Professional League Grand National Exhibition – NYC
Juror's Choice Award – Springville (Utah) Museum of Art National Salon Show

1986