American artist Patricia Massie Widener (nee Tevander) gained national recognition at a relatively young age. She first exhibited in Baltimore in 1946, when she was 18. The artist gradually established her own fine, distinctive style, in which color and tone are more important than subject matter.

She absorbed Flora and fauna from the time when she was a Norton School of Art youthful student, studying with Eric Lundgren. Patricia delighted in compositions involving flowers, animals, birds and shell, all interpreted with distinctive charm and a meticulous attention to detail. Her works sometimes suggest the brush work of a miniature painter.

While still a student she received first prize in oil at the Palm Beach Art League show with one of her “Pelican” studies. Among the persons who have acquired Massie paintings were the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, New York publisher Lee Ault, portrait artist Channing Hare, New York collector J. Patrick Lannon, and other celebrities.

Studio in Palm Beach

She maintained her studio at her home on Chilean Avenue, Palm Beach, Florida. Noteworthy, her paintings exhibited in 1959, which was her first full one-man show, resulted in a complete sell-out. The success of the exhibit had special significance. For it represented genuine recognition for a young artist who developed a highly distinctive style that has won her widespread praise.

There is great decorative quality to the Massie paintings, with their varied back ground effects that ranged from the plain to the unusual modeled effects. A remarkably fine sense of color and design.

Death of Patricia Massie

On February 4, 1963, her husband, millionaire sportsman Peter A.B. Widener was waiting at Ocala airport for the plane’s arrival. Patricia Massie was killed February 3, 1963 in a plane crash near Ocala. She was 35. They married in Philadelphia in 1959, and in 1961 they had a son.

Paintings by Patricia Massie