A visit to N.C. Wyeth's studio

I didn't post last week because we went on a vacation. We were in Philadelphia with a side trip to Gettysburg so a whole lotta history there. History and cheesesteaks.

One of the highlights of the trip was a side trip to the Brandywine Museum of Art. Located in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, it is also the town where the Wyeth family lived and painted. N.C. Wyeth built a house in Chadds Ford in 1911 and a studio shortly afterward. His son Andrew Wyeth lived in a house (formerly a one-room schoolhouse) nearby as did his son, Jamie.

I am a big fan of the Golden Age of Illustration (1880s to 1930s more or less), so this trip was a real treat for me. There is an excellent display of N.C. Wyeth's work, including the original paintings of his illustrations for Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. There were also some work by some of his contemporaries, like Howard Pyle. The paintings by Andrew and Jamie (some of which I got so see during the excellent show the Denver Museum of Art at the end of 2015) were also great.

In addition, we got to go on a tour of the Wyeth studios...


N.C.'s studio is really well preserved (and large because he did a lot of mural work). The painting in the picture was the painting he was working on at the time of his death.

The windows (north light, naturally) are huge and let a lot of great light in. You can also see some of his extensive reference library as well as some of the bits and pieces he would use for models as well as Halloween costumes (just behind that easel is a plaster bust of Washington with a felt tricorner hat on it that we was using as a reference.

I thought his palette was very interesting -- the guide said that was soon as his daughter learned he died in an automobile accident, she ran out to the studio and wrote DO NOT USE and the date in pencil on it. so you're looking at the paint he was using on his final works right there.

I also thought it was interesting that he used some really small brushes. There are some bigger ones in the jar on the table in back though.

This is his work table. It's a lot neater than mine, that's for sure.

I thought it was an amazing trip and the museum is well worth a trip if you're in the area (it was about an hour away from Philadelphia).