Andrew Wyeth: Looking Out, Looking In by Nancy Anderson Charles Brock

by Andrew Wyeth

One of Andrew Wyeth's most important paintings, "Wind from the Sea" (1947), is also the artist's first full realization of the window as a recurring subject in his art. Wyeth returned to windows during the course of the next 60 years, producing more than 300 remarkable works that explore both the formal and conceptual richness of the subject. Absent from these spare, elegant, almost abstract paintings is the narrative element inevitably associated with Wyeth's better-known figural compositions. In 2014 the National Gallery of Art, Washington, presents an exhibition of a select group of these deceptively realistic works, window paintings that are in truth skillfully manipulated compositions centering on the visual complexities posed by the transparency, beauty and formal structure of windows. In its exclusive focus on paintings without human subjects, this catalogue offers a new approach to Wyeth's work and represents the first time that his non-figural works have been published as a group since the 1990s. The authors explore Wyeth's fascination with windows--their formal structure and metaphorical complexity. In essays that address links with the poetry of Robert Frost and the paintings of Edward Hopper, Charles Sheeler and other artistic peers, the authors consider Wyeth's statement that he was, in fact, an abstract painter.American painter Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) lived his entire life in his birthplace of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and his summer home in mid-coast Maine. His seven-decade career was spent painting the land and people that he knew and cared about. Renowned for his tempera "Christina's World" (1948), Wyeth navigated between artistic representation and abstraction in a highly personal way.

Genres: Art

Unknown Binding

First published May 1, 2014

Reviews

[Margaret Adams]

Picked this up from the library after the third time I went to see the Wyeth exhibit in Seattle this winter. There's a part in one of the essays in this book where the author is describing how Wyeth tried to gracefully get out of painting his friend Robert Frost's portrait by saying that oh, a man as important as Frost couldn't possibly have the time to sit for a portrait as long as it would take a guy like Wyeth to paint it, etc. etc. Frost called him on this (kinda weak) excuse and was like, hey, "the young pup stood me up!" To which Wyeth replied in a letter:

From the beginning when my father first read his poems to me Mr. Frost's clarity of vision has been a very real challenge and inspiration to me in my work. In fact it is hard for me to separate in my own mind the word Frost from anything that does not mean crystal clear emotions. To paint his portrait would be almost an impossibility for me. I feel I have painted his portrait dozens of times. In fact in your Wind from the Sea, The Blue Dump, and Christina's World and my most recent tempera River Cove to name but a few. Can you possibly understand this? A part of him lives in the best of all my work.

Isn't that just? "Can you possibly understand this? A part of him lives in the best of all my work." I love it. Artists crushing on other artists across mediums basically not being able to even. He just couldn't even. I love it.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I could give this 4.5 stars.

I will just start by saying that Andrew Wyeth is on my top ten of favorite artists. This book is the companion for the exhibition at the National Gallery right now. It is an unprecedented collection of Wyeth's window works, a great deal of which are borrowed from private collections. Wyeth is both American rural realist and Abstract minimalist--often achieving both aesthetics at the same time, which makes his work infinitely interesting yet perplexing. This book contains two long essays written by different authors. The first essay is excellent and explores Wyeth's life, influences, goals, and connections to Robert Frost. The second essay discusses the relationship between the art of Sheeler, Hopper, and Wyeth as they explore similar themes. The second essay is full of wonderful quotes and is well researched, but it was a little ponderous and resorts to all these cliches in academic writing I am completely against (ie. "This essay will explore.....") such as the use of passive voice, some tense issues, and an overly long and stuffy "thesis exposition" where everything is laid out like a scientific experiment. Once I got past the intro the essay got better, and it has brilliant moments, but it is not a style I prefer because I don't think it does the academic community any favors. Hence the 4.5 stars. About 1/3 of the book consists of gorgeous large plates complete with a pictorial index which is fantastic. Additionally, beautiful figures litter the writing--not a page goes by without beautiful art. This is a must read book for fans of Wyeth or American Art.

[Louis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I checked out this title after reading the fictional "A piece of the world." It is a large tome, so I had to place it on my kitchen table and read it flat as it was too heavy to read otherwise.

This citation lists Andrew Wyeth as the author, but the work also contains figures of paintings by other artists. Nancy K. Anderson writes an introduction and an essay, as does Charles Brock. Nowhere does it include a complete essay by Wyeth, although he is quoted, as he was dead by the time the exhibition to which this book is an accompaniment opened.

I was hoping to see an overview of Wyeth's work but was pleasantly surprised by the intellectual rigor of the essays. The exhibition focused on the use of windows by Wyeth, and so this liminal feature is discussed in detail as it pertains to the art.

Brock's essay in particular contrasts and compares Wyeth's use of this symbol to Charles Sheeler and Edward Hopper. The writing, while academic in places, still was understandable to the lay person, aka yours truly.

I also had hoped to find out more about Christina Olson herself. There is a photo of her as well as several works, including studies, in this book. There is a telling anecdote about how Betsy James tested Wyeth as a person when he first entered the Olson household.

With regard to Sheeler, Hopper and Wyeth, some mention is made of the influence that the women in their lives played. For Hopper and Wyeth, it was their wives Jo Nivinson & Betsy James, respectively. Jo posed for some of Hopper's work, and felt that she was not given due credit for her contribution. Betsy at times became suffocating to Wyeth, in his opinion, but she apparently was the push behind the artist's commercial appeal.

For Sheeler, the art dealer Edith Halpert is cited as an influence. She gave him the push to focus solely on his art and abandon the workday world of commercial art.

The studies for Wyeth's paintings are enlightening.

Overall, this was an unexpectedly rich work to me.

[Jimgosailing]

I’d always liked Wyeth’s work but wasn’t overly familiar with it; we visited Chadds Ford (where I encountered his father’s work, recognizing plates from a childhood King Arthur book I’d read, and also Treasure Island). And I learned more.

Then the National Gallery of Art had a Wyeth exhibit and I got this book. Wind From The Sea is one of my all time favorite paintings. You can feel the summer heat of being in that attic room and the humidity that the breeze doesn’t quite dissipate.

I learned so much about Wyeth’s tempura technique.
I love how desaturated it looks. And now as I fiddle around with my camera shooting barns, I need to learn to achieve this look in my photography

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even before knowing who Andrew Wyeth was, it knew I liked his style of painting, and something that I lean towards in my own photography. The background information on the artist was very interesting and learning more about the thought process behind his paintings. Loved taking my time to examine each painting, seeing what was included and excluded from each piece.

[Rinku · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot about the subjects Andrew painted, how he took reality and added his imagination to create these amazing drawings and paintings.

[Dori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous book!

[LisaZen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wyeth characterized his own approach as "seeing a lot in nothing".

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is exhibition catalog (mounted by the National Gallery of Art, in Washington D.C.) has many fine images in it. However, it is mainly centered on one subject: the many pictures created by A. Wyeth that contain windows or doors. This is okay, as far as it goes, especially since that is the focus of this exhibit. But there were many other subjects painted in the chronological sequence of his work, from which these window pictures were plucked, disembodied from the other pictures created around the same time as these. I would have preferred that at least some of the images of other major works in the same chronological sequence as the works featured here, were included (even if only in thumbnail format) to provide a context for how and when this images were created an how they relate to the whole.

An interesting extended, not cursory, discussion of the works is included, with several essays written by Nancy K. Anderson and Charles Brock. Production value of the images is top notch and includes many details as well as the full sized images. Part of the essays include a comparison of how Wyeth's treatment of windows relates to his contemporaries Charles Sheeler and Edward Hopper on the same subject, and how in turn they and their work were all influenced by World Wars I and II and the Great Depression.

[Sage Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to add to arts lovers' collection. After I saw his exhibition in D.C., I ordered it from amazon right away and it is well written and printed.