Andrew Wyeth
Born – Chadds Ford, USA 1917
Andrew Wyeth was tutored solely by his father, N. C. Wyeth, a well-known illustrator, who taught his son to draw from casts, skeletons, still life and the life model. Andrew did not develop his own inimitable style until after his father’s death in a level crossing accident. The emotional impact of this personal tragedy precipitated the change in his work. He had always been especially drawn to landscape, particularly the Brandywine Valley around his home, but his range broadened to include the study of people and their emotions. His work has a compelling, highly-detailed realism, which can be traced back to Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins, but conveys a distinct sense of lugubrious wistfulness. In Up in the Studio, a drybrush watercolour, Wyeth uses the frame of his panel as a compositional device. The cropping of the lower edge, combined with the lines of the floor and window, draw the viewer into this private, isolated space. The subdued colours are characteristic of Wyeth’s work and were achieved by grinding his own pigments from a range of earth and mineral colours. He paints in one of two media – drybrush or tempera – both methods being painstaking and slow.
Masterpieces:
- Christina’s World
- That Gentleman
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About andrew wyeth
Andrew Wyeth: Memory & Magic
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Andrew Wyeth: Autobiography
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Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life
Richard Meryman
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