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It seems everywhere you look there is an Andrew Wyeth exhibit, dedication, best selling book or interview. It also seems everyone knows of at least one or two of his pieces either by sight or title of the work. There is a very good reason for this. Andrew Wyeth is one of the most celebrated living artists in history. Several galleries and museums, including the National Gallery of Art, display his work when prior to this they had never featured the work of a living artist.
Andrew Wyeth’s ability to create unmistakably realistic images set to a fictional tone both impressed and enraged critics. During his sixty-year career, his work gradually began an evolution from realism to surrealistic expressionism to a combination of both. This is the primary reason for the feelings of rage held by these critics. They felt if he were to be taken seriously as an artist and build a career based on merit, he should not be working in such a light medium.
This “painter of the people,” as he was often referred to as, holds no high school diploma, formal training or college degree. Until he was eighteen years of age, Wyeth’s father Newell (otherwise known as N. C. Wyeth) homeschooled him and trained him in the arts. His parents, based in part on his frail health, made this decision about his education. When he was very young, he contracted whooping cough and was prone to illnesses thereafter. Rather than continuing to deal with schools any longer, he attended until the third grade; it was thought best his father taught him at home.
As an American realist painter, Andrew Wyeth born 1917, youngest of five children, worked primarily in watercolors and egg tempera. His vivid memory and vigorous imagination caused his pieces to move from strikingly realistic to often surrealistic. Typically, he would both begin and end a paining outdoors. His blatant disregard for his watercolor paintings are apparent based upon viewing the creases and torn edges found on some of them. Often times he was known to throw one down to the ground to quickly begin working on another in the heat of the inspirational moment.
Museums and galleries over the years held Andrew Wyeth’s work in the highest regard and still continue to do so today. The Farnsworth museum located in Rockland, Maine once paid 65,000.00 for a painting entitled “Her Room,” in 1964. At the time, this was the highest price paid by a gallery for a living artist’s work. During 1987, the National Gallery of Art exhibited the “Helga” paintings. As mentioned before, this was the first time they featured the work of a living artist.
Wyeth, now eighty-three years of age, still paints all day everyday. He still speaks during dedications, such as the celebration of his eightieth birthday, and gives interviews. His life, full of creation and success, is and inspiration to both seasoned artists and those in training. It is not difficult to find a museum or gallery somewhere featuring his or his family’s work, find a book containing their pieces or an article teaching about their history.
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