WHEREAS, Maine has provided inspiration for much of the body of work produced by the Wyeth family starting in 1930, when N.C. Wyeth purchased a summer home in Port Clyde and he built a small studio; and
WHEREAS, while N.C. Wyeth was best known for his illustrations, many of which were derived from his Maine-based knowledge of coastal and maritime life, he was also an acclaimed painter; and
WHEREAS, son of N.C. Wyeth and one of the United States’ most celebrated realist painters of the 20th century, Andrew Wyeth’s detailed paintings depict the land, sea, and people well known to him, including the work he is most well-known for, Christina’s World; and
WHEREAS, Betsy Wyeth, wife of Andrew and mother of Jamie, helped establish the Wyeth Center at the Farnsworth Art Museum and played a key role in founding the Island Institute, an organization devoted to sustaining Maine’s coastal and island communities; and
WHEREAS, a painter like his father and grandfather before him, Jamie Wyeth’s paintings of everyday life can be found in the collections of the Farnsworth Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the National Portrait Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art, the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, and many others; and
WHEREAS, while members of the Wyeth family are known to the world for their generations of fine art, to many Mainers they have been best known as neighbors and friends; and
WHEREAS, in accordance with Sec. 1.1 MRSA §150-D, the state of Maine designates July 12th, Andrew Wyeth’s birthday, as Wyeth Day in recognition of the family’s contributions to the State’s artistic and cultural heritage;
NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved that I, Janet T. Mills, Governor of the State of Maine, do hereby proclaim July 12, 2024 as
Wyeth Day
throughout the State of Maine and I urge all citizens to recognize this observance with appropriate commemorative activities.
In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta this second day of July Two Thousand Twenty-Four