The American artist’s centennial is being honored with two major retrospectives of his work.
Andrew Wyeth may have been a favorite of U.S. presidents. In 1963, he became the first painter to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom when John F. Kennedy bestowed the honor. Richard Nixon once sponsored a White House exhibition of works by the Pennsylvania- and Mainebased artist, and both Bushes honored Wyeth, with the Congressional Gold Medal in 1990 and the National Medal of the Arts in 2007. At the other end of the spectrum, comic strip character Snoopy owned a Wyeth that he displayed prominently in his doghouse. In between, the artist was alternately lauded and dismissed by critics but remained a perennial commercial favorite.
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