First Impressions: Andrew Wyeth

96 Pages·1991·12.987 MB·English

by  Richard Meryman

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FIRS^T IMPRESSIONS;
Andrew Wy^th
Andrew Wyeth
Andrew Wyeth was born into a family where
drawing was like breathing. Almost from the
dayhecouldwalk,hisfather,afamouspainter,
encouraged him to draw his wild imaginings.
ButAndrewhadtoslip from underhis father's
stern and judging eye to find his own unique
way to see.
Wyeth has never left his boyhood world—the
GO
rolling countryside along the Brandywine CD
O C
River of Pennsylvania and the rocky coast of $(/)
£
Maine. He has never outgrown the people of o 3
3
thoseplaces,stillaliveinpersonorinhismem- • "c0
2
ory. Theirworn houses, theirland, theirtools, >
and their work forever make his imagination wOmmm
f
race. This is the world of art, where the man s
5"'
-A
can paint the boyhe nourisheswithin, aworld
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where anything is possible. ."3
53 illustrations, including28 plates in full color
'TA\
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
r. x.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Andrew Wyeth
RICHARD MERYMAN
Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers
*
Series Editor: RobertMorton
Editor: Ellyn ChildsAllison
Designer:JodyHanson
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Meryman, Richard, 1926—
AndrewWyeth/Richard Meryman.
p. cm.—(An Abrams firstimpressions book)
Summary: Examines the lifeandworkofthepopularAmerican artist.
ISBN0-8109-3956-8
1. Wyeth, Andrew, 1917—Juvenile literature. 2. Painters—United States- -:
Biography—Juvenile literature. [1. Wyeth,Andrew, 1917—. 2. Artists. 3. Painting,
American. 4. Painting,Modern—20th century. 5. Artappreciation.] I. Title.
II. Series.
ND237.W93M44 1991
759.13-dc20
[B]
[92] 90-47605
X
Textcopyright© 1991 Richard Meryman
Illustrationscopyright © 1991 HarryN. Abrams, Inc.
Published in 1991 byHarryN. Abrams, Incorporated, NewYork
All rightsreserved. No partofthe contentsofthis book may be
reproducedwithoutthewritten permission ofthepublisher
Printed and bound in Hong Kong
Page 1: Detail ofDistantThunder.
1961.
Pages2-3: WinterCom. 1948
Wyeth oncesaid: "When Iwalk through the
rows ofblowingcorn I'm reminded oftheway a
kingmusthave feltwalkingdown thelongline
ofknightsonhorsebackwith banners blowing."
Pages 4-5: Study forPineBaron.
1976
An earlysketch that became an
importanttempera (page30).
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v^c TMte,
<rv
Contents
Old Kris 7
Drawing 26
A Secret Life 34
Into the World Alone 57
The Crossing 72
List of Illustrations 90
Index 92
_ ;
1
Old
Kris
Through all of Andrew Wyeth's life, Halloween has been like a dark
—
Sabbath "the eerie feeling of another world," he says. "Spirits.
Goblins. Witchcraft. Shadows. Dark holes behind windows, a glint of
—
metal in the moonlight the unreal." Each year he spends hours on an elaborate,
—
often horrific, disguise a dead-white Dracula, a hairy werewolf. Then, feeling
invisible behind his mask of makeup, he leads costumed friends and family
through the night, "haunting" his hometown of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.
TheHalloween ritual istheessenceofAndrewWyeth. Fueled byexcitement, by
that imagination that burns highest in the child, he is galvanized by terror, the
hottest ofthose thrills. His impish, boyish personality is a mask hiding a solitary
seriousness—which masks the powerful emotions he hides in his paintings. And
these emotions are masks for a constant torrent of memory—which covers what
nobody can guess. He is a gallery ofmagic mirrors—crafty, brave, warm, shock-
ing, ruthless, generous, obsessed.
—
Wyeth paints recognizable objects hills, cornstalks, houses, spruce trees, ani-
mals,andcountrymen,women,girls,boysgoingabouttheirlives.Viewerswhodo
notsee beyond the surface reality thinkheis recordingavanishingrural America.
Jack Be Nimble. 1976
Wyeth's boyhood fascination with witchcraft and the delicious
terrors of the night live in his painting of a stack of Halloween
pumpkins he carved himself.
For an annual family Halloween "haunt," Wyeth made up as an
Indian scout for George Washington and wore a Continental Army
coat. His mother tried to guess who wore each disguise.
They are absolutely wrong. "People who don't look at my work," Wyeth says
angrily, "think I'm a painter of old oaken buckets. I'm anything but that!"
Wyeth follows the centuries-long tradition of realistic painting, from Albrecht
Diirer through Rembrandt to Thomas Eakins and Winslow Homer. But he is also
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