Biography of George A. Weymouth

George Alexis (Frolic) Weymouth of Chadds Ford, PA, is an artist and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Brandywine Conservancy, an environmental and cultural organization that he helped found in 1967.

He is also chairman of the Conservancy's Museum Committee for its Brandywine River Museum. Since it opened in 1971, this art museum alongside the Brandywine River has drawn more than 3 million visitors from all parts of the United States and 80 foreign countries.

Born in 1936 in Wilmington, DE, Weymouth has painted since early childhood and was encouraged by his mother, a gifted painter in her own right. He sold his first paintings at age six. Although he studied with Kleber Hall, a man who believed art students should develop their technical skills first, and took life drawing at Yale University with Dean Keller, he is largely self-taught.

He is known for his fine portraits, done in egg tempera. He also paints landscapes, especially of the Brandywine Valley. He was one of the artists selected by NASA to paint at Cape Kennedy during the Moon Shots. These paintings were then exhibited at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

In England, he has painted portraits of: the late Earl of Westmorland, Master of the Horse; His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent; and in 1995 he did a portrait of His Royal Highness The Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, which now hangs in the restored part of Windsor Castle.

For more than 20 years, George Weymouth has been a well-known figure in coaching circles and has exhibited his four matched bay Standard-bred horses and antique carriages in many horse shows. He has coached regularly at the Devon Horse Show and has permanently retired a trophy. He started the Vicmead Coaching Club and is past Chairman of the Board of the Brandywine Polo Club.

Weymouth has been active in the restoration and preservation of 18th century American houses and furniture, including his own home in Chadds Ford. He has long been acquainted with the Brandywine Valley's artists, land and history, and works to preserve the area's cultural and natural heritage. In 2000, Weymouth was awarded the prestigious Special Citation from The Garden Club of America for his environmental vision and exemplary service.

Weymouth received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in 1958. He was appointed by President Nixon to the Commission of Fine Arts and served from 1972 to 1977. In 1974, he served on the Visual Arts Panel of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and in 1981 received the University of Delaware's Merit Award for Community Service. In 1990, he received the National Arts Club's Annual Award.

The Brandywine River Museum focuses on American art with primary emphasis on the art history of the Brandywine Valley, including three generations of the Wyeth family, and on the history of American still-life painting and on American illustration. Its growing collection includes work by hundreds of artists of two centuries.

The Museum is operated by the Brandywine Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that seeks to preserve, conserve and restore the Brandywine Valley's natural, historic and artistic heritage. The Conservancy preserves an American heritage through its Environmental Management Center and the Brandywine River Museum.

The Environmental Management Center conducts applied research directed to development of private and public methods for protecting water resources, historic sites and important natural areas in developing watersheds. The Environmental Management Center has assisted many other conservation and historic organizations across the country and has provided an example for the foundation of similar conservation efforts in other areas.

The Environmental Management Center has established a regional and national reputation for its far-sighted practical solutions to problems faced by private landowners and public agencies.