Gordon Wetmore
Gordon Wetmore, of Signal Mountain, Tennessee, died on August 25, 2011. He was 73.
Mr. Wetmore was an internationally renowned portrait artist and founding chairman of The Portrait Society of America. He was born on July 9, 1938, in Memphis. He was the son of the late Stanley Wetmore and Clara Wetmore Street.
Gordon is survived by his wife Constance, and his daughters, Amy, Alexandra, and Abigail. He is also survived by his brothers, Louis Wetmore, James Street, and Arthur Street, and sisters, Jane Hester, Carolyn Burkett, Virginia Vaughn, and Kim Stubblefield; 22 nieces and nephews and 32 great-nieces and nephews.
Mr. Wetmore served in the United States Air Force from 1956-1960. He was an alumnus of Messick High School in Memphis, attended Valdosta State University and the University of Memphis, and received a degree in art from the University of Chattanooga.
Mr. Wetmore also studied at the Art Students League in New York. He was a member of the Artists Fellowship of New York and the Oil Painters of America, and served on the board of Overseers of Opera Boston.
Mr. Wetmore’s published works include the best-selling art book Promised Land(1978, 1998), with forward by noted author Leon Uris and text by Israeli statesman Abba Eban; Ireland-Portrayed by Gordon Wetmore(1980) with text by the artist and forward by Princess Grace of Monaco (1980); Prayers for Boys and Girls (1986); and Vanishing Kingdoms(2004) with 20 portraits by Mr. Wetmore and text by Ambassador Walter J.P. Curley.
During his lifetime, Mr. Wetmore created over 800 portraits of many distinguished and well-known subjects including President Richard M. Nixon, Jack Nicklaus, Fred Couples, Dr. and Mrs. Norman Vincent Peale, Leon Uris, Princess Grace of Monaco, Prince Rainier, Prince Albert, and many others.
His works are in the collections of The White House, The Royal Palace of Monaco, Harvard University, Duke University, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Northwestern University, Presbyterian Hospital, New York, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Harvard Medical Center, and countless other remarkable collections spanning the globe.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Gordon Wetmore Legacy Fund: http://www.portraitsociety.org/
Chattanooga Funeral Home East Chapel will make memorial service announcements.
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