Andrew Wyeth, 1917-2009

Andrew Wyeth died nine years ago today - January 16, 2009, in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.

He is probably one of the most loved and easily recognizable American artists. Working primarily in watercolor and tempera, he is probably best known for Christina's World, which is in the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York.

It's an amazing painting so see up close and personal and is hung next to the escalators - it's a weird spot, almost if MoMA doesn't know what to do with it.

Yeah, that's really where it is - catch it on your way to the fifth floor men's room. I wonder how many people go to MoMA, see Starry Night, and leave thinking, "I thought they had that Wyeth painting there") Part of me wonders if that's a metaphor for the art world's opinion of Wyeth - loved by the masses but maybe not seen as "important" as other painters. Don't look at me, I'm no expert.

Personally, I love his work - it has a tone of melancholy and loneliness that I see in painters like Hopper or the American Realists. It also has detail in watercolor like I've never seen. One of the things I like best about his work is that like some of my other favorite artists, he spent his time painting the ordinary and the mundane and gave it a sense of nobility. He seemed to take joy in painting "regular America" - his neighbors, his children, the areas around his homes and noticing the interesting art in things we see every day.

 A couple of years ago, we were able to see the amazing exhibit of  Wyeth and his son Jamie at the Denver Art Museum and it still ranks as one of the best special exhibits I've ever seen, anywhere. Last fall, totally by chance, we saw another exhibit at the Portland Art Museum that featured all three generations of Wyeths - with Andrew's father N.C. Wyeth alongside Andrew and Jamie. (That exhibit is going on until the end of this month and it's worth seeing if you're in the Portland area)

I love that his work is so grounded in nature - so much of it is inspired by his summer home in Maine or his year-round home in Chadds Ford. If you're in the Philadelphia area, it's not that far a drive to Chadds Ford to visit the Brandywine Conservatory and Museum of Art, which along with a permanent museum for the Wyeth family's work also gives tours of the homes and studios of N.C. Wyeth and Andrew Wyeth.

This is the sign Wyeth put on the door of his home and studio and it is still there today. I swear to God, if Brandywine sold reproductions of it, I would have bought one. Don't worry, though - the museum will happily give you a tour.

All three generations of Wyeths have made some amazing and inspiring art but Andrew's work feels the most uniquely American.

Jim Carrey: "I Needed Color"

So this short (six-minute) documentary has been making the rounds lately and after my instinctual "ugh, another actor that thinks he's Picasso" I gave it a watch because, hey - six minutes.

Turns out, it's pretty decent. The documentary, I mean.

The articles about the short talk about his art in terms from "some truly jaw-dropping paintings" to "He just should not be showing this stuff to anyone and expecting anything except derision." You make your own call on it. Personally, I'm not a fan of the art.

What I did like was the documentary's take on the creation of art and its power to heal. He was going through a painful divorce and he turned to art as therapy, which is an idea I can totally get behind. People use art as part of programs to stave off the effects of Alzheimer's as well as helping the effects of depression. Some days it's a struggle to get to the canvas, but when I do, the shot of endorphins I get really helps me out. It sure is better than watching TV all night, that's for sure so even if I can't get behind his art I understand his need to create and the good it does him.

Hail to the King, baby!

Making excuses about not blogging is lame, so I won't do it.

Instead, I will make a post to honor the King of Comics, Jack Kirby.

He was born exactly one hundred years ago today, August 28, 1917.  Undoubtedly the single most influential artist (if not the most influential person) in comics. His creations and influences are just too long to list here but man, was he a creator. Captain America, almost all of the early Marvel art, invented romance comics during a superhero lull, incredible runs at both Marvel and DC...I could go on and on and on...

Happy birthday, Jack!

(As an added bonus, here is an io9 article with a great video where other comic creators talk about Kirby's influence)

Edward Hopper

I recently got back from a trip to New York City where I spent most of my time lurking in museums. One of the paintings I was excited to see (again) is one of my favorite paintings at the Met - Edward Hopper's The Lighthouse at Two Lights:

I'm sure many artists would call him trite and provincial, but I really enjoy Hopper's work: simple yet it draws you in with every painting having some hidden story and uniquely American with an undercurrent of loneliness (I suppose growing up outside of Chicago and frequently getting to see Nighthawks at the Art Institute  on field trips didn't exactly hurt either).

The Muddy Colors blog recently posted about Hopper as their "Artist of the Month." Worth a look and I promise to write more about my trip and what I saw. (Alas, no pictures from the Frick collection.)

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).