This lavish volume reproduces 138 tempera, drybrush & watercolor paintings & pencil studies by Andrew Wyeth. The most comprehensive retrospective of the artist's work ever produces.
Paperback
,
168 pages
Published
September 15th 1998
by Bulfinch
(first published September 15th 1995)
Yes, Andrew Wyeth is one of my favorite artists. And this book is stunning. Making it all the more fascinating are his personal notes accompanying each sketch and painting, outlining the history of the composition or model.
Could I afford it, I'd have his work hanging all about my house.
I first saw the earlier version on friends desk about 10 years ago and it re-kindled my interest in Wyeth. The 'Helga' pictures of course had brought him back to a certain degree of prominence after decades of almost obscurity outside of collectors and museum goers.
My first interest in him went to seeing a variety of his works as a teenager and knowing two different families who owned Wyeth's and learning a lot about the tempura method he used. Having seen works up close and being privileged to
I first saw the earlier version on friends desk about 10 years ago and it re-kindled my interest in Wyeth. The 'Helga' pictures of course had brought him back to a certain degree of prominence after decades of almost obscurity outside of collectors and museum goers.
My first interest in him went to seeing a variety of his works as a teenager and knowing two different families who owned Wyeth's and learning a lot about the tempura method he used. Having seen works up close and being privileged to touch them and understand the uniqueness of the technique and its toughness I had a concept of them different than just as an image on a wall. Wyeth's works reflect(ed) a portion of his temperament and personality even as they were robustly unreal.
This rather compact work provides a survey of only a portion of his work, though many of the important pieces are included and of course it doesn't really touch on his later modern work at all.
The autobiographical tag is appropriate in the works selected are for the most part one's that were included in a retrospective that illustrate facets of his career and work.
A stunning book that I have spent a lot of time with and highly recommend to any art student, connoisseur of painting, or a volume which a library of art books without would be incomplete.
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This is one book I must purchase. Excellent artworks (variety of mediums) but most importantly is Andrew Wyeth's personal interpretations of why, where and what inspired him to create these beautiful scenes of everyday people in everyday life living off the land. I highly recommend it.
It's mostly a picture book, but as I was glazing over it at Borders, I was so drawn by this one painting that I ended up spending $30 for the entire book which I did not intend to do.
I'm not a fan of the countryside. To me it's a place that represents death and dying, particularly in summer, and so stay away from art that captures that idea. Wyeth is however, different. He captures for me the brooding, loneliness of the field, the corruption in the soil, the bleakness of the land, but in such a way that he makes it beautiful. To step into his world is to find a peace and a sanctuary in nature. An in depth look at this artist's works, with biographical notes that enhance each
I'm not a fan of the countryside. To me it's a place that represents death and dying, particularly in summer, and so stay away from art that captures that idea. Wyeth is however, different. He captures for me the brooding, loneliness of the field, the corruption in the soil, the bleakness of the land, but in such a way that he makes it beautiful. To step into his world is to find a peace and a sanctuary in nature. An in depth look at this artist's works, with biographical notes that enhance each picture allowing a story to enfold, and the characters of Chadds Ford and Maine come alive.
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Thanks to J. because without Goodreads I would not have picked this up. I traditionally avoid art and poetry, but thought this might be a good one to break with tradition. It was. The rules surrounding good and bad art confuse me. I'm always afraid of being the person who likes Thomas Kinkade and then later discovers that he's a really bad artist, according to a fair number. (I don't actually love that guy's work, by the way).
I learned more than I thought I would about the way that at least one
Thanks to J. because without Goodreads I would not have picked this up. I traditionally avoid art and poetry, but thought this might be a good one to break with tradition. It was. The rules surrounding good and bad art confuse me. I'm always afraid of being the person who likes Thomas Kinkade and then later discovers that he's a really bad artist, according to a fair number. (I don't actually love that guy's work, by the way).
I learned more than I thought I would about the way that at least one artist works. It was really something to learn about art while learning about his life. Very well edited, I must say.
Obviously art is one's interpretation of truth, but understanding more about the relationship between spontaneity and color, technique, style, etc, and Wyeth's interpretation of truth was so interesting. It was frustrating at times to stare at one of his pictures and not be able to find some of the small details he points out, in them. At the very least, I guess I can say that I liked what I saw, and what I read. I'm glad I didn't start with an abstract artist.
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Magnificence. Instead of getting a wordy autobiography, Wyeth gives us his paintings and provides the reasoning and associated memories with each work of art. Now, that's a true biography. Thus we see the artist as the artist, not as a biographer wants to be seen.
Wyeth was a Regional Realist and very East Coast American, which also comes across in his descriptions. The reader can look at
The Cider Barrel
, for instance, and discover that good cider needs to be kept filled to the brim. If that inf
Magnificence. Instead of getting a wordy autobiography, Wyeth gives us his paintings and provides the reasoning and associated memories with each work of art. Now, that's a true biography. Thus we see the artist as the artist, not as a biographer wants to be seen.
Wyeth was a Regional Realist and very East Coast American, which also comes across in his descriptions. The reader can look at
The Cider Barrel
, for instance, and discover that good cider needs to be kept filled to the brim. If that information wasn't there, the picture would still stand, but now you view it in a completely different way.
He also brings out his technique, such as not being as neat as his father, N.C. Wyeth, was with his illustrations. His father's death deeply affected Andrew, as seen in
Weatherside
. The Olson house is falling apart, but instead of cleaning the artwork, Wyeth remains real, because his father's tragic death reminded him that all things pass and nothing holds still forever. Same with
Marsh Hawk
, a tempura showing old wagon trains that were later destroyed in a flood. Nothing lasts.
Wyeth can also be humorous, and this is where his descriptions are so apt.
Storm At Sea
was painted with most of the lighthouse purposely cut off, which irritated a passing tourist who remarked, "You can see he's an amateur by how he's cut off the top of the lighthouse." Everyone is a critic!
"You're in the lap of the gods-almost like painting with your eyes half-closed. Sometimes I don't want to see too clearly."
This entire book is a treasure, not just for the incredible art but for the honesty and the intimacy that Wyeth provides us. I now want to travel to Maine and Chadds Ford, PA to see the countryside and the people of Andrew Wyeth's world.
It's not really an autobiography. It's generally just a paragraph or two written by Wyeth about each print in this "book" of selected prints across his career. This should be a good start at increasing my collection of books that are cool to "look" at. Wyeth's understated sensibility and earthy demeanor make for good narrative of the prints. I must have reached the next stage of life, because I can finally afford art books. ;)
One of my favorite artists, this book highlights the universally american images of Wyeth. Though I am a Californian and know little to nothing of the Maine landscape portrayed by Wyeth in his art, the paintings still speak to me as examples of that archetypal american Nature that all of us heirs of emerson and thoreau know and love.
What I like about this is that not only is it a solid selection of Wyeth's (potentially) lesser known works, but it also has his own 'critiques' of the works, and not some upity critic telling you what to feel or see. His blurbs are more like history lessons or technique instruction. Fascinating.
Sometimes I find that what is written about art can be as beautiful as the art itself; that’s the case with this book. It’s mostly large-format color prints of Wyeth’s worth, with his reflections or recollections alongside them. Perfect rainy day reading.
Basically a retrospective created for a particular showing, where Wyeth himself talks about the individual pieces. Interesting to gain some insight into his technique/inspirations and am just wowed by the precise detail in some of his pieces.
This little book is a great intro to Wyeth if you don't know his work. I like the quirky blurbs he offers as his autobiography, though the images speak volumes themselves.