A native of New York City, Whitten attended the Collegiate School.
 He studied economics at Yale where he received his BA in 1980.
 He subsequently constructed a personal painting program at Yale, studying with Gretna Campbell and Samia Halaby.
 In 1987, he received an MFA at the University of California, Davis, under the instruction of Wayne Thiebaud, Squeak Carnwath, David Hollowell, Mike Henderson, Manuel Neri, Harvey Himelfarb, and Robert Arneson.
 He began teaching at Penn State in 1989.
 Later, he moved to Rhode Island where he became professor of Painting at Rhode Island College in 2006.
Presently he continues in his position of Professor of painting.
 Whitten's paintings and drawings are representational but have strong ties to geometric abstration.

Whitten's work has been discussed in the feature article, "Richard Whitten: Portals to the Unconscious" by Holly Davis in Artists Magazine, Jan/Feb 2017 issue.
 His work was included in the Rhode Island PBS video series: "Networks 2015-2016.
 His paintings have been featured on the cover of both Artist Magazine (October 2017) and American Psychologist Magazine (January 2016).

In 2017 he was invited to speak at the "Presence of China: International Contemporary Art Forum", Sanya, Hainan Province, China.

Whitten and his wife Jeanne live in Rhode Island.
A native of New York City, Whitten attended the Collegiate School.  He studied economics at Yale where he received his BA in 1980.  He subsequently constructed a personal painting program at Yale, studying with Gretna Campbell and Samia Halaby.  In 1987, he received an MFA at the University of California, Davis, under the instruction of Wayne Thiebaud, Squeak Carnwath, David Hollowell, Mike Henderson, Manuel Neri, Harvey Himelfarb, and Robert Arneson.  He began teaching at Penn State in 1989.  Later, he moved to Rhode Island where he became professor of Painting at Rhode Island College in 2006. Presently he continues in his position of Professor of painting.  Whitten's paintings and drawings are representational but have strong ties to geometric abstration.
Whitten's work has been discussed in the feature article, "Richard Whitten: Portals to the Unconscious" by Holly Davis in Artists Magazine, Jan/Feb 2017 issue.  His work was included in the Rhode Island PBS video series: "Networks 2015-2016.  His paintings have been featured on the cover of both Artist Magazine (October 2017) and American Psychologist Magazine (January 2016).
In 2017 he was invited to speak at the "Presence of China: International Contemporary Art Forum", Sanya, Hainan Province, China.
Whitten and his wife Jeanne live in Rhode Island.
Richard Whitten