Born in 1946 in Delaware, James Browning “Jamie” Wyeth was born into a family of remarkable artists. Grandson to Newell Convers Wyeth who is known for his illustrations for classic novels and song of Andrew Wyeth, one of America’s most popular paintings, Wyeth was raised in a family passionate about the arts. His mother, brother, two aunts, and two uncles, are all noted painters and Wyeth found expressing himself in with brushes and pencils the most natural way to do so. After the sixth grade his parents pulled him out of public school, educating him themselves so that he would have more time to focus on his artwork.

By the time Wyeth was eighteen years old, his work was already hanging in permanent collections of art societies and museums in Delware and Maine. He was also exploring portraiture, particularly using oils, which in time became his signature creation. By 1973, one museum alone, the Brandywine River Museum, had collected 143 portraits by Wyeth family members and just a few years later in 1975 the Joslyn Art Museum held a retrospective of Jamie’s art. He gathered even greater national acclaim when he and Andy Warhol created portratirs of each other in 1976.

Wyeth’s talent has been commissioned by the United States Postal Service, the White House, and the U. S. Mint, as well as children’s book authors and the Special Olympics. His work can be found in private and public collections worldwide, including the National Gallery of Art, National Portrait Gallery, John F. Kennedy Library, and the Museum of Modern Art.