Editor's note: The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum provided source material to Resource Library for the following article or essay. If you have questions or comments regarding the source material, please contact the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum directly through either this phone number or web address:
The Wyeths: An Artistic Trilogy
September 9 - November 26, 2006
Within the last twelve months, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum scored a triumphant coup by acquiring three major paintings by three acknowledged masters of twentieth-century realism: N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, and Jamie Wyeth.
In announcing the Wyeth acquisitions, Woodson director Kathy Kelsey Foley noted that although each of the Wyeths had a prominent place on the Museum's collection wish list, "We thought it highly improbable that we would ever have an opportunity to acquire a major artwork featuring birds by any one of them. To realize we have now turned our aspiration into a reality in less than one year is totally astounding. We are most grateful to the Nancy Woodson Spire Foundation for making these acquisitions possible."
N.C.'s Port Clyde (1928, oil on canvas), Andrew's Swifts (1991, watercolor on paper), and Jamie's Feeding Gulls (1999, mixed media on paper) form the core of The Wyeths: An Artistic Trilogy, on view through November 26 at the Woodson. Additional works by Andrew and Jamie round out the exhibition.
Though N.C. is best known for his illustrations that breathed life into more than one hundred works of fiction beginning with Treasure Island in 1911, his passion was painting the lush and painterly landscapes of the Maine coast. After discovering Port Clyde in 1910, Wyeth became totally smitten with the landscape, sounds of lapping water and singing birds, and the salt-laden air. After moving his family there in 1920, he joyously painted the beauty of his surroundings.
A feeling of solitude and peacefulness permeates the scenic coastal area of Maine depicted in Port Clyde. Although the water appears calm, you can "hear" the slight sound of waves gently breaking on the rocky shore as a skein of gulls approaches the foreground. Wyeth's palette of soothing aqua-blues, mauve, and turquoise intensifies the mood and expresses the artist's rapture.
Andrew Wyeth, son of N.C., is the most celebrated representational painter of the twentieth century. His paintings, watercolors, and drawings focus on the Brandywine Valley of Pennsylvania and Delaware, farm interiors and exteriors, stone buildings, and the stark landscapes and white clapboard houses typical of Maine. Swifts, with its distinct roof lines, earth-toned palette, and quick yet decisive brushwork, is quintessential Andrew Wyeth.
A fascination with birds has inspired Jamie Wyeth's artwork since the 1960s. Close to two hundred drawings and paintings feature barnyard chickens and roosters, cawing crows, and scavenging gulls, each defined by confident handling, vibrant coloration, and passion. The roiling water and frenzied food fest of Feeding Gulls exemplify Jamie's mastery and clearly position him on an equal footing in the Wyeth family triumvirate alongside his father and grandfather.
Looking ahead, the Woodson Art Museum's debut of its Wyeth acquisitions sets the stage for a summer 2007 focus on the entire Wyeth family of artists. From June 16 - August 26, 2007, the Woodson will present An American Story: The Wyeth Family Tradition, an exhibition organized by the Delaware Art Museum.
(above: N. C. Wyeth, Port Clyde, ca. 1928, oil on canvas)
(above: Andrew Wyeth, Swifts, 1991, watercolor on paper)
(above: Jamie Wyeth, Feeding Gulls, 1999, mixed media on paper)
Resource Library readers may also enjoy:
also:
MSN Video ofers a 7m26s clip
from the Today Show in which "NBC's Jamie Gangel talks with the
famous, but reclusive American painter Andrew Wyeth about a retrospective
of his work, his career, and his 'Helga' paintings.
TFAO also suggests these DVD or VHS videos:
Labovsky and produced
by Hudson River Film. This documentary discusses Christina Olson through
interviews from friends and relatives. Christina's World is a video
available through the Sullivan
Video Library at The Speed Art Museum which holds a sizable collection
of art-related videos available to educators at no charge.
TFAO does not maintain a lending library of videos or sell videos. Click here for information on how to borrow or purchase copies of VHS videos and DVDs listed in TFAO's Videos -DVD/VHS, an authoritative guide to videos in VHS and DVD format
Links to sources of information outside of our web site are provided only as referrals for your further consideration. Please use due diligence in judging the quality of information contained in these and all other web sites. Information from linked sources may be inaccurate or out of date. TFAO neither recommends or endorses these referenced organizations. Although TFAO includes links to other web sites, it takes no responsibility for the content or information contained on those other sites, nor exerts any editorial or other control over them. For more information on evaluating web pages see TFAO's General Resources section in Online Resources for Collectors and Students of Art History. Individual pages in this catalogue will be amended as TFAO adds content, corrects errors and reorganizes sections for improved readability. Refreshing or reloading pages enables readers to view the latest updates.
Read more articles and essays concerning this institutional source by visiting the sub-index page for the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum.in Resource Library.
Visit the Table of Contents for Resource Library for thousands of articles and essays on American art.
Copyright 2005 Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc., an Arizona nonprofit corporation. All rights reserved.