When the artist Andrew Wyeth passed away last week I heard the news with no small amount of disbelief. At the the age of 93 (and still actively painting) it seemed that Wyeth had become a permanent fixture in the countryside around Chadds Ford Pennsylvania, as essential and timeless as the rolling hills and and brown fields that were his favorite subjects. It was reported that he had passed away in his sleep. As the facts sunk in, I found that this route seemed very reasonable, expected even. I picture in my head the way that he slowly melted into the snowy hillside as his body slipped away. This painting of his, entitled 'Spring' will always remind me of his death.
Given that I have always felt a stong connection to, and appreciation for Andrew Wyeth's paintings I decided that his passing away warranted a blog-moment for me to say just what it is that I find so striking, and so moving about this particular man's art.
The appreciation originaly grew from familiarity as I found that Wyeth's favorite subjects (the Chester County countryside, and the rugged coast of Maine) were also two of my favorite places. Soon however, it was not the novelty of the location that drew me in but the images themselves. Here are a few of his paintings that have been the ones that I have come back to time and time again.
In my favorite Andrew Wyeth painting "Snow Flurries" the subject is stark and almost barren: just the side of a snow dusted hill. So simple it's almost abstract, but nothing captures the melancholy of a Pennsylvania winter, and the feelings that accompany it, better than this picture.
Despite being a painter who could render images in almost photo-realistic detail, his paintings are deeply emotional and moving, and more often the paintings are most striking for the things that are left out as opposed to how much could be included. In this picture "Brown Swiss" there are no cows included as the title would suggest, only their hoofprints on the long empty pasture.
Andrew Wyeth's paintings seem to have always been full of symbolism and personal secrets. Popping up again and again are tire tracks winding through brown fields. Wyeth had said that these tracks represent time passing.
Once again, doing so much with so little. This painting he considered a portrait of a fisherman friend in Maine.
When Jen and I went to the Wyeth exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art recently there were a few paintings displayed that caught my eye that I had never really noted before. This was one of them. Something about it was very arresting at the time, and I remember pausing in front of it longer than most others. I am not sure if this painting is intended to be as representative of death as it seems to be, but it has become one of my favorites and it seems a fitting image for the situation.
Andrew Wyeth is one of the few artists, I think, who was fortunate enough to understand the full breadth of his impact and relevancy while he was still alive. For that I am gald. His passing brings sadness to this household and, I'm sure, many others around the world.
5 comments:
this shows my ignorance, but i had not known of this painter's works until now. i like the ones you featured here...they seem very accessible somehow...thanks for sharing.
I think thats another reason that I enjoy them so much. They are accesible, but also layered enough to warrant repeated viewings. With so much detail present there is always something new to see.
I have the one of the window, Wind From the Sea, hanging in my kitchen. I remember at the art museum exhibit Wyeth said he painted that one after his father's death. Thank for this post.
I have the one of the lighted window in the house at the Koerner farm. The light is in the room where Mr. Koerner lay dying and now I look at that painting and think of Wyeth himself dying simply and quietly in his sleep. He painted sadness and death so eloquently.
Gwyn- I have always really loved 'Wind From the Sea.' I remember the first time I saw it. I was shocked that someone could have painted that lace curtain with such fine detail. Now I just love it for the feelings it conjures up.
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