The World Loses Another Artist

[MissGoddess]

I'm not sure if there is much interest
here in the painter Andrew Wyeth, but he was the
first artist whose work I went to see in an exhibition and
I never forgot the impact of his images. I always appreciated
his insistence (stubborn?) to sticking to realism in a century of
expressionism and more abstract styles. There was something
poetic about his works. This article on his passing includes links
to sites featuring his most famous images:

http://tinyurl.com/7hd8l6

[moira finnie]

Thank you for bringing the passing of Andrew Wyeth to my attention, Miss G.

To die in one's sleep at 91 years of age after a lifetime of pursuing his art is not a bad way to go. I love his paintings, as well as those of his son, Jamie. Below is one of Andrew's best known enigmatic and yet poetic images, "Christina's World".

[klondike]

What a devastating week!!
Yes, I know the works of AW, primarily through my interest in (and unstinting passion for) the voluminous work of his father, N.C. Wyeth.
There's also Andrew's son Jamie Wyeth, who is still painting through various remote locales up & down coastal Massachusetts.

[mrsl]

I've never been good at painting, I only know what I like, and what makes me feel good. I often get the old masters mixed up, but there is something about the whole Wyeth family that is different. It could probably be what you said Miss Goddess, I don't know realism from expressionism, but their people looked like people, and that is one thing I like.

Is the art world still stuck on waiting until an artist dies? Or are they being honored while they can still enjoy it? As I said, I don't know much about art, and I am curious.

Anne

[MikeBSG]

I read last year's biography of Charles Schulz, and one item that surprised me was Schulz's incredible respect for Andrew Wyeth. Indeed, toward the end of his life, Schulz seemed to wish that he had had a Wyeth-like artistic career than the career he had.

[klondike]

I read last year's biography of Charles Schulz, and one item that surprised me was Schulz's incredible respect for Andrew Wyeth. Indeed, toward the end of his life, Schulz seemed to wish that he had had a Wyeth-like artistic career than the career he had.

Funny you should mention that sort of "medium envy" that so often arises in great artists' minds; I recall reading in several different bio's of Andrew's father, N. C. Wyeth, that he always felt that he'd cheated himself by accepting over 3 decades of commission work as a book & magazine illustrator, and promotinal artist, rather than becoming a professional "fine artist" as he'd originally studied for at Howard Pyle's Brandywine Art Institute in Pennsylvania, despite the fact it was precisely that "paying the bills" work that made his name famous, and his commission so hotly sought after, and his bank accounts so hefty. In fact, it was that same earnings progression that made his mentor, Howard Pyle, so highly respected a celebrity in the graphic arts world, as it also did for Wyeth's colleagues, Maxfield Parrish & Frank Schoonover . . the difference being that those others had made the transition to non-commission art at a mid-point in their careers . . and when N.C. made that transition in his mid-fifties, his "original" oil paintings, though well received & quite unique, never had the wide acclaim, nor bankability, as his former work had . . he had indeed started too late in the arc of his body of work . . which made his remaining years rather bitter ones . . . and I'm sure made for huge cautionary tales to his son, Andrew . .
Yet still, the world over, wide eyed kids stare reverently at N.C.'s storybook illustrations of pirates & giants & knights & Indian chiefs & high-masted tall ships off distant shores, and dream their dreams of adventure . .
How bad a legacy can that be?

[MissGoddess]

Is the art world still stuck on waiting until an artist dies? Or are they being honored while they can still enjoy it? As I said, I don't know much about art, and I am curious.

Anne

Hi Anne---this particular Wyeth enjoyed more appreciation than 99% of other painters ever do, but he was not what you might call a darling of the critics. I have no idea what the appreciation of his work would be now that he has passed on, but everything tends to rise in price when time makes it rare and distance moderates the more choleric criticisms. I don't follow the arbiters of artistic merit these days---most of them make me positively ill with their brand of foolishness and bamboozling their all-too gullible public (the art buyers) for me to waste much time considering their judgement on even a child's fingerpainting.

[moira finnie]

Here's a piece that outlines the controversy surrounding Andrew Wyeth's merit as an artist. Having made a pile of dough in his lifetime and preferring to live in the country all his life, he was, as usual in the art world, deeply resented. Despite having the bad taste to die solvent and cherished by the "great unwashed", I suspect that he will be seen as an artist of some merit down the road, if not today or tomorrow. Even by the "smart" people who "decide" what is art in this country and abroad.