Striking Poses: Portraits from the Museum's
Collections, the latest exhibition at the Brandywine
River Museum,offers visitors the opportunity to examine many unique
synergies between portrait sitters and artists. This exhibition of
approximately 40 works includes a wide range of examples of unusual and vibrant
portraits by artists such as Peter Hurd, Norman Rockwell, Benjamin West, George
A. Weymouth, Andrew Wyeth,
Jamie Wyeth, and N.C. Wyeth.
Historically, portraits often included symbols that
emphasize a subject's role in society or pay tribute to personal
accomplishments. Today, portrait subjects are often shown in more casual
poses and informal settings. When a subject strikes a particular stance
or offers a particular demeanor, artists respond by using composition and tone
to convey the subject's unique expression. This approach, whether planned
or spontaneous, results in a collaborative creation.
For example, Jamie Wyeth's Draft Age
depicts former Chadds Ford resident Jimmy Lynch. At the time of the
Vietnam War, when this work was painted, both the artist and sitter were
candidates for the draft. Clad in a leather motorcycle jacket instead of
a uniform, Lynch conveys a detached, rakish air. Wyeth placed the figure
in a shallow, shadowed space, and the strong light from the side heightens the
figure's defiant pose.
In George Weymouth's portrait, Mrs. Battle,
the artist uses dramatic lighting to illuminate the subject's face and
expressive, gesturing hands. It also highlights the gold filigree trim of
her jacket to emphasize elegance, poise, and directness.
Artists also make striking images of themselves. N.C.
Wyeth's Self Portrait with a Palette was painted after his
student days with Howard Pyle, but still very early in his career. Wyeth's
strong composition, limited coloration, and bravura brush strokes reveal his
growing confidence and artistic ability. Norman Rockwell's Self
Portrait (1947), gives the artist's comic view of his own thin,
be-spectacled person. The precise drawing and exaggerated expression are
reminiscent of the early work of Maxfield Parrish, an artist Rockwell greatly
admired.
Some portraits are partially fictionalized renderings of a
person created from the artist's memory. Andrew Wyeth notably created
many such works, including Spring (1978), a portrait of
Chadds Ford farmer Karl Kuerner. Based on drawings the artist made during
Kuerner's final illness, the painting evokes the stoicism of the German
immigrant. It suggests Kuerner as a timeless figure in a metaphorical
relationship with the landscape.
Striking Poses: Portraits from the Museum's
Collections includes works from the museum's permanent and extended
loan collection.
The Brandywine
River Museum is open daily (except Christmas Day) from 9:30 a.m. to
4:30 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults; $6 for seniors ages 65 and over,
students, and children ages 6-12; free for children under six and Brandywine Conservancy
members.
Through July 11, museum admission also includes <I>Eye
to Eye: Portrait Miniatures from the Collection of Phyllis and Jamie
Wyeth<I>, as well as <I>John Haberle: American Master of
Illusion.<I> For an additional fee of $5 for each tour, visitors
can see the N.C. Wyeth House & Studio (Tuesday through Sunday) and the
Kuerner Farm, a major source of inspiration for Andrew Wyeth (Thursday through
Sunday). Tours depart from the museum at scheduled intervals.
The Brandywine River Museum is located on Route 1 in Chadds
Ford, Pennsylvania. For more information, call 610-388-2700 or visit www.brandywinemuseum.org.
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