Andrew Wyeth

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Padme
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Andrew Wyeth

Post by Padme »

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090116/ap_ ... drew_wyeth
PHILADELPHIA – Artist Andrew Wyeth, who portrayed the hidden melancholy of the people and landscapes of Pennsylvania's Brandywine Valley and coastal Maine in works such as "Christina's World," died early Friday. He was 91.

Many years ago my daughter and I had the pleasure of meeting Andrew, his son Jamie and a granddaughter in Santa Fe. The studio there is tiny and one can miss it if one is in a hurry.

My daughter actually had the wherewithal to show him a sketch she had done, he sat and talked to her for a very long time about technique. Both her and I were awe struck...he told her she needed to work on prespective, it greatly helped her art. She has been working on spacing and prespective ever since that very chance encounter in that studio gallary one early April morning.

:cry:
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sauronsfinger
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Post by sauronsfinger »

WOW! What a great story. That is a memory to cherish forever.

I like much of Wyeth's work - especially Christina's World. Also loved his father N.C. and all his illustrative work.

While I never met them like Padme was so fortunate to have done, I did get to visit the Brandywine Museum and see lots of the Wyeth family work.

He will be missed.
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.... John Rogers
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Voronwë the Faithful
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Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

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"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
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Voronwë the Faithful
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Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

I heard in an interview this morning, that Christina, the subject of the above painting, suffered from polio and literally was crawling across the farm. Definitely a very moving portrait of the human condition.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
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Frelga
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Post by Frelga »

Brandywine? Is there a Tolkien connection?
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.

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ToshoftheWuffingas
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Post by ToshoftheWuffingas »

:bow:
I love Wyeth's work and it isn't so well known in the UK. One special favourite of mine is of nets drying in the sun. I think the title is something like Easter Day. (or something like that) I saw it once in a book and have never forgotten it. I also saw his book of the Helga portraits which were also wonderful.
How wonderful to have met him.
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Primula Baggins
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Post by Primula Baggins »

I wish there were a Tolkien connection. The flavor of his work is exactly right, to me.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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BrianIsSmilingAtYou
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Post by BrianIsSmilingAtYou »

I've been to the Brandywine Museum, which showcases much of the work of the Wyeths.

It is not too far from where I live, a bit further out in the boonies.

I keep reminding myself that I have to go back again. They have some nice trails along the Brandywine River that lead right to the museum, where you can walk, hike, bike etc, and I believe that people also canoe and/or kayak in the river.

There is no Tolkien connection, except that I think the the land out there is (or was) much like the Marish in the Shire, with rolling farmland.

See http://www.thebrandywine.com/

And they do grow mushrooms even further out that way towards Kennett Square (which bills itself as "the mushroom capital of the world"), though I suspect that no one has taken a shortcut to mushrooms in a long time.

See http://www.mushroomfestival.org/

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All of my nieces and nephews at my godson/nephew Nicholas's Medical School graduation. Now a neurosurgical resident at University of Arizona, Tucson.
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Lalaith
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Post by Lalaith »

Oh, I missed this. :(

How sad! He is my mom's favorite artist, so I've grown up with his works. And I like them as an adult now as well. As a child, I loved the painting with the dog on the bed (Master Bedroom). And Christina's World always made me so sad. My mom told me that she was crippled with polio.
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Lindréd
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Post by Lindréd »

What a great story Padme!

I love the paintings of all the Wyeths! There is something about Andrew's work in particular that just "nails it" emotionally for me. I have several of his prints hanging in our house. I grew up at a boarding school (where "Dead Poets Society" was filmed) about an hour from Chadd's Ford (where the Brandywine Museum is). The school has a huge mural at one end of the dining hall by N.C. Wyeth (opening shot of the movie). They also have several of his large original oil paintings, which were commissioned as illustrations for books (mostly knights and castles etc.). I loved to look at them when I was a kid!

I have a special fondness for Jamie W.'s work too. I met him once too, but I was very young, and too shy to say anything! Ever seen his "Portrait of a Pig"? Wonderful!

http://www.artbrokerage.com/art/wyethja ... t_Of_A_Pig#

btw, this area is a great place to visit. In addition to the Brandywine Museum there is also Brandywine Park and Battle Field (Rev. War), Longwood Gardens (one of the finest botanical gardens anywhere). and Valley Forge National Park is nearby. And while you're there you might as well go to Wilmington or Philly and get a cheese steak sub!!
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vison
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Post by vison »

Christina's World is too powerful for me. I can scarcely bear to look at it. Wonderful.
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