The Missouri Born artist Richard Brown Lethem began his studies at the Kansas City Art Institute and earned a BFA and MFA at Columbia University.

He began teaching at Columbia in 1957 and the following year received a Fulbright Fellowship in painting for study in Paris. Subsequent teaching positions have been at the following institutions: Columbia University, University of Kentucky, Kansas City Art Institute, and the University of Southern Maine.

He has been represented by numerous One Person shows including nine in New York City. His work is in many public and private collections including: The Ogunquit Museum of Amerian Art, Ogunquit, Maine, Pamona College Museum, Claremont, California, Blanden Museum of Art, Ft. Dodge, Iowa, University of New England Museum, Portland, Maine, Bates College Museum, Lewiston, Maine, Yaddo Foundation, Saratoga Springs, New York and Columbia University, New York City.

He currently lives and works in Claremont, California