Henriette Wyeth facts for kids

Henriette Wyeth Hurd (born October 22, 1907 – died April 3, 1997) was an American artist. She was famous for her amazing portraits and still life paintings. She was the oldest daughter of the well-known artist N.C. Wyeth. Henriette learned to paint from her father and her brother, Andrew Wyeth. They all studied art at their home in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.

Later, she married another artist named Peter Hurd. In the 1930s, they moved to San Patricio, New Mexico. They raised their three children on a ranch there. Both Henriette and Peter loved the beautiful landscape around them. Their ranch eventually grew to 2200 acres. Henriette once said, "I don't know what is important and what is unimportant, so I call it all immensely important."

Henriette Wyeth's Early Life

Henriette Wyeth was born in Wilmington, Delaware. She grew up in a very artistic family. She was the oldest of five children. Her father was the famous illustrator N.C. Wyeth. Her mother was Carolyn Bockius. Two of her siblings, Carolyn Wyeth and Andrew Wyeth, also became artists. All three learned to paint from their father. Andrew Wyeth became the most famous artist in their family.

When Henriette was three years old, she got polio. This illness affected her health and how she used her right hand. Because of this, she learned to draw with her left hand. She learned to paint with her right hand. She grew up on her family's farm in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. She went to local Quaker schools. Later, she and her siblings were homeschooled. Their father believed public schools were not good enough. She started formal art lessons with her father when she was 11. She began by drawing with charcoal and studying shapes.

Henriette Wyeth's Artistic Journey

Portrait of Patricia Ryan Nixon (1978) by Henriette Wyeth. This painting is at the White House in Washington, D.C.

Henriette was a very talented child. When she was just 13, she joined the Normal Arts School in Boston. The next year, in 1921, she went to the Boston Museum of Art Academy. Two years later, she moved to Philadelphia. There, she studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. By age 16, she was already known for painting portraits. People in Wilmington asked her to paint their pictures.

Her father's realistic painting style greatly influenced her. She did not like the newer art styles of the early 1900s. These included Impressionism and Cubism.

After her student years, Henriette showed her art at the Pennsylvania Academy. In 1937, she won the Mary Smith Prize for a portrait of her son, Peter. Henriette painted many different things. She painted portraits of adults and children. She also painted still lifes and flowers. In her paintings, she often added items that showed what the person was interested in. She later stopped painting children. She said, "today's children--they are so deadpan."

She painted famous people like Helen Hayes and Paulette Goddard. She also painted Mrs. John D. Rockefeller III. These paintings made her very well-known. In 1963, she painted a portrait of her brother Andrew. This painting was on the cover of Time magazine. Henriette and her husband Peter were both asked to paint President Lyndon B. Johnson. Their portraits were for Time magazine's "Man of the Year" issue. Henriette won several awards for her art. These included the Governor's Award in New Mexico. She also received a Living Legacy Award.

Her most famous painting is the official White House portrait of First Lady Pat Nixon.

Henriette Wyeth's Personal Life

In 1929, when she was 21, Henriette married artist Peter Hurd. He was also a student at the Pennsylvania Academy. He had been her father's art helper. Henriette and Peter had three children: Peter Jr., Carolyn, and Michael. In the mid-1930s, they moved to San Patricio, New Mexico. They settled on a 40-acre farm. By 1939, they started the Sentinel Ranch there. They slowly bought more land until they had 2200 acres. This ranch was in southern New Mexico, near Roswell, New Mexico. Roswell was her husband's hometown.

Henriette's father was not happy when they left Pennsylvania. In an interview in 1989, she said, "He felt I should not let marriage interfere with my painting." He worried that living on a ranch would take her energy away from art. But Henriette Wyeth kept painting for the rest of her life. The beautiful landscape of New Mexico inspired her art. Later in life, health problems made it hard for her to create art.

Henriette Wyeth died in her home-studio in Roswell, New Mexico, in April 1997. She passed away from problems related to pneumonia. The Wyeth Hurd Gallery website says that many art experts thought she was one of the greatest women painters of the 20th century. Her personal papers and those of her husband are kept at the Archives of American Art. This is part of the Smithsonian Institution.

Exhibitions and Art Collections

Portrait of Peter Wyeth Hurd (1937) by Henriette Wyeth. This painting is at the El Paso Museum of Art in Texas.

Many of Henriette's paintings are at the Roswell Museum and Art Center in Roswell, New Mexico. Her art is also at the Hurd La Rinconada Gallery in San Patricio, New Mexico. You can find her paintings in the permanent collections of other museums too. These include the Brandywine River Museum in Pennsylvania. Her work is also at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. The National Portrait Gallery and the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe also have her art. The Texas Tech University Fine Art Museum also displays her work.

Henriette Wyeth's art has been shown at famous places. These include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Her work was also at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh. The Art Institute of Chicago and New Mexico's Roswell Museum of Art have also featured her art.

Some of her special exhibitions included:

• The Wyeth Family (1935) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Exhibition of Paintings by Peter Hurd & Henriette Wyeth (1967) in Columbus, Ohio

Her work has also been part of exhibitions after she passed away:

• The Wyeths' Wyeths (2010) at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Maine
• The Wyeth Family: Three Generations of American Art (2010) in London
• The Wyeths: America's Artists (2011) at the Kalamazoo Institute of the Arts in Michigan
• Magical & Real: Henriette Wyeth and Peter Hurd, a Retrospective (2018) at the Michener Art Museum in Pennsylvania

See also

• Wyeth