Mary Whyte (b.1953) is an American figurative artist known internationally for her watercolors of contemporary people. Her works are in private, corporate, university and public collections nationwide, and have been featured in numerous media outlets including CBS Sunday Morning, PBS and NPR.
The author of seven books including We the People: Portraits of Veterans in America, Whyte’s work has also been featured in many international publications, including periodicals and books in China, Russia, France, Germany, Canada and Taiwan.
She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Portrait Society of America’s Gold Medal, the Carolinas Freedom Foundation’s Freedom Award, and the South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts, South Carolina’s highest honor in the arts.
In 2019 Whyte founded the Patriot Art Foundation as a means to honor and inspire veterans through the arts.
Whyte received the 2020 National DAR Medal of Honor and the 2020 NSDAR Women in the Arts Award. In 2021 Converse University in Spartanburg, South Carolina awarded her an honorary doctorate degree. September 2022 Whyte received the Annie Oakley Society Award for her role as a leader in the artistic community and inspirational work through the Patriot Art Foundation.
Whyte’s groundbreaking museum exhibition WE THE PEOPLE: Portraits of Veterans in America, consisting of fifty large-scale watercolors of one veteran from each state, opened in 2019 and continues to travel to various museum locations around the country.
For more information on acquiring available works, commissioned portraits, museum exhibitions, events and current news, please contact Sharon Crawford.
Image: Winter Whyte, self-portrait
