On January 27, 2018, the Brandywine River Museum of Art will unveil the first comprehensive exhibition of George A. “Frolic” Weymouth’s artistic career, examining his contribution to American painting. Weymouth (1936–2016) was perhaps best known for his philanthropic endeavors, in particular as one of the founders and long-time chairman of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art. He was also a remarkable artist.  

On view through June 3, 2018, The Way Back: The Paintings of George A. Weymouth will feature sixty-five of Weymouth’s best works chosen by guest curator Joseph J. Rishel. The selection will demonstrate the breadth of the artist’s visual investigations across many mediums—from the loose energetic style and monochromatic palette of his early oils made in the 1950s to the luminous, highly detailed temperas of his later career. Mentored by his friend Andrew Wyeth, Weymouth worked in both watercolor and egg tempera for the rest of his career to create insightful portraits and haunting, hushed landscapes that spoke eloquently of his passionate love of nature. In these paintings, Weymouth created a rich atmosphere demonstrating his skill in capturing varying effects of light. The exhibition will also include a number of pencil and watercolor studies Weymouth did in preparation for his tempera paintings. These rarely seen works will provide a rich understanding of Weymouth’s keen eye and his artistic process.  

Encouraged by his mother, Dulcinea “Deo” du Pont, Weymouth expressed an early interest in art. Formal training came when he took art classes while at St. Mark’s School and later at Yale University. Much like Andrew Wyeth, Weymouth was very private about his painting. Also, as they were for Wyeth, his subjects tended to be friends and family and the scenery that surrounded him daily—in Weymouth’s case the bucolic landscape of his estate in Chadds Ford, PA. Artists going back to the nineteenth century, among them Jasper Cropsey and William Trost Richards, have celebrated the beauty of the region. Weymouth both carried on that tradition and created its next chapter. 

The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue—the most comprehensive publication to date on the artist—published by the Brandywine River Museum of Art and Rizzoli/Skira. A major essay by Annette Blaugrund, noted art historian and former director of the National Academy of Design, considers Weymouth’s work in the context of the American realist canon and provides insight into his personal artistic vision and his connection to the Brandywine tradition. An introduction by Joseph Rishel, Curator Emeritis of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and a friend of the artist, provides a personal account of Weymouth’s larger-than-life personality and remarkable achievements as an artist, philanthropist, and leader in conservation.

The Brandywine River Museum of Art features an outstanding collection of American art housed in a 19th-century mill building with a dramatic steel and glass addition overlooking the banks of the Brandywine. The Museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (except Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day), and is located on Route 1 in Chadds Ford, PA. Admission is $18 for adults, $15 for seniors ages 65 and over, $6 for students and children ages 6 and up; free for children 5 and younger and Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art members. For more information, call 610.388.2700 or visit brandywinemuseum.org.