Andrew Wyeth: Close Friends

by Betsy Wyeth, Greenville County Museum of Art Staff, Mississippi Museum of Art Staff

Generally regarded as "America's Painter," realist Andrew Wyeth is perhaps the most well known of the artistic Wyeth family dynasty, which includes his father N.C. Wyeth, sister Henriette Hurd, and son Jamie Wyeth. Although most recent explorations of this artist have focused on his family and on the Helga pictures, this unique publication chronicles seven decades of an underappreciated yet historically relevant aspect of his relationship to home and community. Andrew Close Friends is the first critical look at a significant body of paintings and works on paper depicting Wyeth's African-American friends and neighbors in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, a quaint village on the Brandywine River, where he has lived since birth.
Andrew Close Friends includes over 100 color reproductions of major tempera and watercolor paintings and numerous black-and-white images of graphite drawings. Works reproduced are drawn from public and private collections, with a large number from the personal collection of the Wyeths. In addition to a foreword by Museum Director R. Andrew Maass, the book includes family photographs and facsimiles of personal correspondence.

Genres: Art, Art and Photography

160 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2001

Reviews

[Christine]

This is a great book! I'm so glad I brought it home from the library when I saw it. Sometimes certain books find me...

[Judith Johnson]

My son, who is an artist and an art teacher, shared this book with me. I feel so grateful and glad to have had the opportunity to see these beautiful paintings.

[Marla]

I loved this book. I had never seen half of the artwork in this book before. I enjoyed all the notes made by Wyeth, sharing small details about his friends and sometimes background stories about painting sessions. This book is an intimate glimpse into his world back when he lived in Chadds Ford. I am so inspired by his work, his dedication to the craft, the way he saw people and captured his community.

List of my favorite paintings from this book
Granddaughter, 1956
Day of the fair, 1963
A Crow Flew by, 1950
The drifter, 1964
Grape wine, 1966
Jack and Willard, 1975
Garret room, 1962
Painted post, 1985
Demolished, 1995

[Christine]

Great printed quality of images to accompany text.