As the 100th anniversary of Andrew Wyeth's birth approaches, the Brandywine River Museum of Art opens a new exhibit, Andrew Wyeth: In Retrospect. The exhibit officially opens June 24.
Audrey Lewis, who co-curated the exhibit referred to it as an in-depth retrospective of Wyeth's career giving people a chance to re-evaluate the last 15 years of his work while noting the changes as his work matured.
"When he started, his early watercolors were dynamic in movement and space; then he returned to his earlier subjects with new interpretations. He began to explore sensuality with his nudes. During his last years, his work was more magical," Lewis said.
Museum Director Tom Padon said, "This is really an important show for us. This is the largest exhibition that we've organized in Brandywine's history...We are thrilled to put this show together with our colleagues at the Seattle Art Museum. Patti Junker, the curator in Seattle, and Audrey really brought a fresh perspective to Andrew Wyeth. He is such an important figure here. Not only is he one of the most iconic American artists, but he was also a beloved member of the [Chadds Ford] community."
Having the exhibition in Chadds Ford — before it moves to Seattle — gives it more depth, Padon said because visitors can see one of the landscapes that so inspired Wyeth, Chadds Ford in general and the Kuerner Farm in particular. There are also the two family studios, Andrew's and N.C.'s, where the young Andrew learned to paint. Both are available for tours.
Padon later said one of Wyeth's strengths was the ability to create and convey mood.
"His moods are fascinating. His ability to capture light make his work seem timeless, putting his subjects into their own world. And he was feeling al of it. He sees everything about it," Padon said.
The exhibit includes 104 works ranging from a 1936 charcoal and pencil sketch of his father, N.C. Wyeth, titled "Pa with Glasses," to his final piece fittingly titled "Goodbye," painted in 2008. Andrew Wyeth died in January of 2009. He was born July 12, 1917.
Those 104 images are displayed in two galleries on the second and third floors and are divided into four sections reflecting more than 70 years of the artist's career. The first two sections are in the third-floor gallery and the second two are on the second floor.
The first section runs from 1936 through 1949. Those early years, which Lewis described as showing nature and portraiture with a muted palette with some color. Scenes include landscapes along the Brandywine, as in "Frog Hunters," "Spring Beauty" and "Mother Archie's Church."
It was also during those years when Wyeth began painting the Kuerner Farm and its founding generation of Karl and Anna Kuerner.
The 1948 portrait "Karl," Lewis said, came about as Wyeth was dealing with the 1945 accident near the farm, an accident that killed N.C. Wyeth. She said he was re-evaluating his own approach to painting while treating the farmer as a surrogate father.
Section 2, covering 1950 through 1967, is called Immersion: People and Places. This is the period in which Wyeth began focusing on people and their places, especially the Olson family in Maine and, most notably, Christina Olson.
It was also during this period when Wyeth painted "Roasted Chestnuts," a Chadds Ford scene in which he has Chadds Ford resident Alan Messersmith selling chestnuts from an open barrel along what once was a rural Route 202.
Also during this period, Wyeth began painting images from the black community in Chadds Ford. While he had previously done "Mother Archie's Church,” now he did portraits of members of that community. James Loper was a model for many of those pieces. Final images and some studies of those works are included in the exhibit.
Sections 3 and 4 are on the second floor. Section 3 covers the 20-year period of 1968 to 1988. This is the period, Lewis said, in which Wyeth began exploring sensuality and perhaps erotic art. These were the years he painted nudes of Helga Testorf, the former nurse for Karl Kuerner.
Those images were considered scandalous by some when their existence became known, but it was also during that time when Wyeth painted "The Kuerners," with Karl Kuerner carrying a rifle through a door and Anna watching him go, perhaps frustrated, and "Evening at Kuerners," a dark landscape of the farm. There is also "Home Comfort," with Anna Kuerner working in the kitchen, and "Spring" with Karl Kuerner supine in a field and partially covered in ice during the last years of life when he was in poor health. "Spring" is considered an artistic meditation on death and regeneration.
The final section covers 1989 to 2008. Lewis said this was the time when Wyeth's work became magical and self-reflective as he continued to look back on his previous themes. They become more surreal, she said. In addition to "Goodbye," his last piece, which shows a sailboat moving out of frame, he also painted "Snow Hill" during these years. "Snow Hill” shows a cast of characters, Wyeth's former models in costume dancing around a pole, celebrating the fact they would never have to sit for Wyeth again.
Andrew Wyeth: In Retrospect will be on exhibit at the Brandywine River Museum of Art until Sept. 17 when it moves to the Seattle Art Museum.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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