The art of Andrew Wyeth [by] Wanda M. Corn. With contributions by Brian O???+?'???'?óDoherty, Richard Meryman [and] E. P. Richardson. Issued in connection with the exhibition held at the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum of the Fine Arts Museums of San Franc

by Wanda M. Corn

Presents an interview with Wyeth and criticism of his work, complemented by reproductions of his paintings

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art and Photography, Biography, Art History

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know which line of Andrew Wyeth’s I’m adopting. “Blank brains.”

“You see, I don’t say, ‘Well, now I’m going to go out and find something to paint.’ To hell with that. You might just as well stay home and have a good glass of whisky. Really, I just walk a great deal over the countryside. I try to leave myself very blank—a kind of sounding board, all the time very open to catch a vibration, a tone from something or somebody. […] I call it blank brains.”

That’s something I need lately, which is one reason it’s the new year and I’m reading books on Wyeth. Last January it was Walt Whitman; before that… still Whitman, I think. They do the same things with their work: they walk, they slow down, they clear away, they see.

For years, Wyeth has been my favorite painter, since I first saw one of his paintings and paused and went back and stared. It was Wind from the Sea, which now hangs in my bedroom. And then Snow Flurries got to me; Pentecost after that. One of his paintings with the big white box house. (Probably Evening at Kuerners?) Something was up. What he painted was spooky. Even commonplace things had an off-kilter vibe. He liked leaving things out of pictures; he liked empty spaces and ghosts.

I think this book might be the first text on Wyeth I’ve read that validates those opinions. Usually—at least in whatever art history textbooks I had back in the day—he was praised for his realism or his melancholy and Americana. This book is about the weird Wyeth—dare I say the real Wyeth. Definitely the Wyeth that’s kept me staring at paintings until the thing that I’m seeing is not what I’m seeing at all.

The book is also incomplete. There are no Helgas; none of his later, arguably greatest work. It’s the early years and the Olsons and the Kuerners, when he was most out of sync with what the art world was doing, before he changed some of what the art world was doing because he made too many people stop, turn back, and stare. That’s why I like this book, incomplete as it is. I like out-of-sync Wyeth, I like deep sparks and blank brains and witchcraft. I like October and January and things that make me see.

Some quotes I keep circling back to:

“I think a lot of people get to my work through the back door. They’re attracted by the realism, then begin to feel the abstraction. They don’t know why they like the picture. Maybe it will be sunlight—like Ground Hog Day—hitting on the side of the window. They enjoy it because perhaps it reminds them of some afternoon. But to me the sunlight could just as well be moonlight as I’ve seen it in that room. Maybe it was Halloween—or a night of terrible tension, or I had a strange mood in that room. There’s a lot of me in that sunlight an average person wouldn’t see. But it’s all there to be felt.”

“You look at my pictures— Christina’s World, The Patriot, Miss Olson—there’s witchcraft and hidden meaning there. Halloween and all that is strangely tied into them.”

“People talk to me about the mood of melancholy in my pictures. Now, I do have this feeling that time passes—a yearning to hold something—which might strike people as sad. And I grant you, my things aren’t high key in color or joyous or Renoiresque or Frenchy—which is what a lot of people want today—the visual cocktail. I think the right word is not ‘melancholy,’ but ‘thoughtful.’ I do an awful lot of thinking and dreaming about things in the past and the future—the timelessness of the rocks and hills—all the people who have existed there. I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure in the landscape—the loneliness of it—the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it—the whole story doesn’t show. I think anything like that—which is contemplative, silent, shows a person alone—people always feel is sad. Is it because we’ve lost the art of being alone?”

“Now, there’s nothing I like better than fire. God, I came from a father who was blood and guts. But the danger today is that the cheap spark is apt to catch on quicker than the deep spark, the subtle spark.”

“I couldn’t get any of this feeling without a very strong connection for a place. Really, I think one’s art goes only as far and as deep as your love goes. I don’t paint these hills around Chadds Ford because they’re better than the hills somewhere else. It’s that I was born here, lived here—things have a meaning for me.”

“I don’t feel for a minute that other artists should run their lives like I do, but you do have to protect yourself, and everything we do is either going to take away or give. Robert Frost’s life is a very good example. His later poems are not the important ones. He stopped living the thing that nourished him. That’s the great danger of success and why I refuse to go places. If I’m worrying, have I got a dinner jacket or, gosh, I’ve got to buy some tickets for an airplane to get me to Chicago—boy, that kind of thing just absolutely flattens me out.”

“I haven’t yet plumbed the depths of what’s around me, so why shouldn’t I stay in one place and dig a little deeper?”

[Matt McBride · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for the casual lover of his work. I enjoyed the inclusion of both critical and craft essays. It was interesting to hear about the ways abstraction functions in his painting as well as how, despite being considered one of 20th century paintings great realists, his paintings were were highly manipulated.

[Mike Zickar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought this book used a few years ago on a trip to Maine where we saw tons of Wyeth art and I only sort of appreciated it at the time. This book has three sections, three different writers on Wyeth. All three essays are great (the middle one is a reprinted interview with Wyeth) and the reproductions of the work are great too. The essays are written at a general audience level, though I suspect those who are art aficionados would gain a fair amount from reading them too.

I wish I had read this book before heading out to Maine but will be excited for a return visit.

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is an interesting read, but it's the photos of the Wyeth clan, and the artwork, that make this one of my favorite "meditations."

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an art book, but with enough text to make me feel that it deserves a rating on Goodreads. I bought it back in the 1970s (it may no longer be in print), but I felt like it was timeless enough to still have current value.

In one of my book groups, we are reading A Piece of the World, a fictionalized account of the people in Andrew Wyeth's painting Christina's World. I'm ambivalent about that book. I'm interested enough in the Wyeths to have visited both the Wyeth's Brandywine Museum and the Olson House in Cushing Maine where the painting is set (and to have posed, tourist-style, in the field in front of the house, Christina-style). I've debated which of the three generations of Wyeths most appealed to my artistic taste, etc etc. I'm holding out for our book discussion to see what my final thoughts on A Piece of the World are: if it is mostly factual, then fine, I love learning more. If it's fictionalized a lot, then - why bother reading it? Enough is known about Andrew Wyeth and the Olsons to make any fictionalized accounting both superfluous and unnecessary - basically, misleading "fake news". We'll see.

What I do know is that I loved reading (most of) this Art Book about Andrew Wyeth. It's got wonderful reproductions of many of Wyeth's paintings, which make it a delight. It's further split into several sections: 1) Brian O'Doherty's section on a Visit to Wyeth Country, wherein he relates many details of both Chadd's Ford and Cushing Maine, along with the history behind the people in Andrew Wyeth's paintings; 2) Richard Meryman's Interview with Andrew Wyeth, which offers fascinating (to me) insight into the painter's ambitions for his paintings; 3) E.P.Richardson's Andrew Wyeth's Painting Techniques (which appealed the most to the incipient artist in me), and 4) Wanda Corn's The Art of Andrew Wyeth (which, truth be told, I couldn't finish. It was standard art lecture fare, blah blah blah, which always amounts to the presenter's random thoughts about the art - I'm happier having my own thoughts after being presented with background information and technique analysis).

+++++ Random:
p 32 They state Christina had polio - the final diagnosis was never given in A Piece of the World
p 38 Andrew's wife Betsy posed for Christina's World - per interview with the artist
p 38 Christina's pink dress was like a faded lobster shell - per artist interview - fun, because this description was picked up in A Piece of the World too
p 55 artist's style - Wyeth says he prefers tempera because it puts a break of his real nature and messiness; watercolor lets him be too messy sometimes
p 81 definition of his "dry brush" technique (watercolor on brush, all squeezed out, more like pen that's fluid)
p ? gesso board used for his tempera (I looked up how to make a gesso board, and (re?)discovered that it's pronounced jesso)(okay, that's embarrassing to admit!)

[Lloyd Downey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was racking my brains and trying to remember where I first came across the art of Andrew Wyeth. I think it was in a Life Magazine ...maybe in early 60's and it certainly featured Christina's World. Since then, I've been very much aware of his work and have observed it in books and catalogues. I guess I have seen some of his originals in the great American Museums but I'm not sure. Initially, I had that sense of deja vu that I already had a copy of this book somewhere on my shelves. But that is not the case. Though I do have a book of his watercolours ...and I'm much less enamoured with these than the paintings in the current book. (These mainly seem to be done in tempera). The pictures are accompanied by some really interesting text...especially about Andrew himself but also about his father NC Wyeth. And I really like the work of the latter. (And have just finished a book about him and his art).
After reading the essays and extended extracts of Andrew's words about his art I've started questioning myself. Had I just taken a liking to his work because it was "realistic"; (like all the blades of grass showing in Christina's world) or was it the unusual angles and use of blank space? I'm certain that I had not read all the meaning into the works that Andrew tried to impart. But it's made me look for greater depth in his work and to look for things like the white shell representing death on a casket...or open doors inviting exploration. etc. There is not much there about technique. But I discovered that Andrew hated being watched while he painted and was rather secretive and solitary in his habits. (I recall that a rathe risque series of nudes emerged after he had died......and there was some speculation that his wife had not been aware of these). So, anyway, not much on technique except that he'd come upon tempera via his brother in law in the 1930's and seemed to have adopted it with relish. In this book and somewhere before I remember him saying that he's spent months working on the background for Christina's world and when he came to putting in a pink shade on Christina's shoulder, it nearly blew him across the room. I found that fascinating.
Where the book is good is the way it reveals Andrew as being out of step with the successful American artists of his time with their abstract expressionism. Yet he stuck to his guns and did his own thing and still managed to be successful. An interesting person, a great artist and a nice book about him. I give it four stars. (Now a little dated and the colour of the pictures seems a little drab.....then maybe that's the way they are!!).

[Patricia Boksa · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book, with superb text and numerous illustrations of Wyeth's paintings. The extensive text is very informative, clear and insightful, covering the artist's background, techniques and vision. The most exciting text was the interview with Wyeth himself, in which he discusses his approach and passion for his work - very inspiring. I feel I definitely have a greater appreciation of Wyeth's work now. Wish I could paint in dry-brush watercolors!

[Lynn Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating! The story of Andrew Wyeth and his "muse" Christina Olsen, the subject of his famous painting "Christina's World" is captivating.💕

[Gary Sites · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first book of art I bought. I certainly picked a good one. Always find a peace when I pick this up. I feel like the dog in "Master Bedroom".

[James Violand · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent work about the Amerian artist from 1969 and includes an interview with Wyeth.

[Steven Schrader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great photographs and document reproductions to go along with the text.

[Daniel Seifert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This pictorial text offers a revealing overview of Wyeth's background with respect to his family, geography, subjects and technique of his work. Forty pages are an interview with Wyeth in 1965 with Richard Meryman, which exhibits features of his person and unique character such as his influences, playfulness, and patterns of thoughtfulness. E. P. Richardson writes about Wyeth's technique describing it as "a dialogue between spontaneity and discipline: between a passion for freedom and immediacy on one hand, and on the other, a conviction that the wonder of the objects which make up this world can be grasped only by the most painstaking and loving study." Wanda M. Corn completes the book by way of an analysis of sorts presenting Wyeth's unique style and character within place and time. She helps us to see inside Wyeth, his roots, understanding and meaning of art; thus drawing out the allure and poetic charm of his paintings as well as a window into the depth and mystery that is intrinsic to his person.

[Morbo2000 Morbo2000 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't believe the idiot who sold this book to the used bookstore has a soul. Anyone that looks at the art inside should feel the power and spirit of the art. I only forgive them if someone died and his/her relatives put all their books in a box while blinded by tears and dropped it off. Otherwise wtf? The painting and illustrations inside convey a great loneliness that many of us trap inside our bodies while we blindly push forward towards an inevitable doom. Wyeth takes that feeling, exposes it and creates stunning imagery. And not just sadness but hope and new beginnings. I have never been in these landscapes he paints and they are alien to me. But simply through his gift I feel like I am walking through the dead grass towards the farm house breathing in the cold salty air. Amazing.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sure he can be dry and tight. But when he gets the light right, he gets the light.

R

[Jane G Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Included in our art studies of Andrew Wyeth.

Used for sketches, and counted how many windows Wyeth painted that were included in this book... :)

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know much about Wyeth, so I found this a very illuminating introduction to his work, particularly how he is viewed in relation to other artists. He was quite an original, often seen as a realist, but seeing himself as an abstractionist. The essays were interesting and readable, with plates of the artwork mentioned included nearby. I found the explanations of what made a painting uniquely a Wyeth very helpful. The only problem with the book is that it only goes to 1972, years before he died in 2009. Still I think this is an accessible introduction to this iconic American artist.