Andrew Wyeth, Seven Decades by adelsongalleries

ANDREW WYETH

SEVEN DECADES

ANDREW WYETH

SEVEN DECADES Introduction W a r r e n A d e l so n

W i l l i a m H . Ge r d t s

November 18th through December 20th, 2014

Adelson Galleries, The Crown Building, 730 Fifth Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10019 212.439.6800

e ar e pleased to pr e sent t hi s exhibition, which can be se e n as a n over view of the ar tistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; s l ong and pr oductive car eer . Repr e sent ed i s the r ange of subject matter for w hi ch Andr ew W yeth became int e rnat i ona l l y known: the male and f em a l e fi gure , landscape in all weather condi t i ons, local ar chitectur e, and the fl ora and f auna that inhabited his t wo favori t e places: Chadds F or d, P ennsyl vani a and the coast of Maine. W or ks l oa ne d from pr ivate collections ar e indi c a t ed i n t he pictur e captions. All others are for sal e. W e ar e ver y gr atef ul to t he l e nde rs for par ting with their paintings for our show. W e could not have ac c ompl i she d this exhibition without t he hel p a nd cooper ation of Mar y Landa and t he W yeth f amily, and of course my fri e nd and colleague, F r ank F owl er. A nd we give special thanks to Dr. Wi l l i a m Ger dts f or his incisive comment ary.

Warren Adelson November 2014 6

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

There Is Always Something More Essay by William H. Gerdts

This assuredness is characteristic of a great deal of art, past and present, and can offer comfort and perhaps complacency. But not of all art. Other artists—Andrew Wyeth is one (Edward Hopper is another) where there is always more to fathom, to question, to

When you view a picture of a Campbell Soup can, what you see is a

wonder, and that “wonder” draws in and involves the viewer to a

picture of a Campbell Soup can. When you look at a chromium and

heightened degree that much passive art cannot achieve. Wyeth’s

stainless steel reproduction in large or small of a balloon dog, you

technical formal virtuosity, his total mastery of tempera and drybrush

may be amused at an image from one’s—or someone’s—youth—

watercolor, and his manipulation of tonal contrasts and subtleties

and that’s “it.” For that matter, when examining Emanuel Leutze’s

have long been admired but perhaps even more, the “magic” of his

monumental Washington Crossing the Delaware, the viewer may be

art lies in what is not affirmed. If we look again at the artist’s most

astounded by the variety of facial types, the different reactions among

famous work, Christina’s World—as almost all writers when involved

the troops and rowers to the event, the diversity of costume, the feat

with Wyeth’s achievements are compelled to do—and even if, as most

of simulating ice and icy waters in paint and especially perhaps the

do by now, understand Christina’s condition, life style, and her actual

assuredly triumphant image of the bold leader at the helm—but there

surroundings—we all are still unsure, uncertain if she will “make

is no doubt concerning the outcome. Washington and his men will

it” up the easily sloping yet somehow excessively distant grassy hill

triumph, the enemy will be defeated, history will be made.

to the house so near yet so far away. It is that with which we are unsure, where the outcome is uncertain, that intrigues—that is the artistic adventure. And with Andrew Wyeth, it has always been so.

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

1940s Christina’s World was created in 1948. Two years earlier Wyeth painted the tempera, On the Beach, a seemingly austere, minimal motif of a sandy beach and ocean waves with flying gulls and one stationary in a pool in the sand. And yet while the view concentrates on the nearby birds and the contrast of their motion and stillness, the terrain seems to extend “almost” forever, and in the far, far distance are two figures—one taller than the other, and even further back, a speck of land. Who are they? Where is this beach? So much space, so little activity in so vast a swath of land. A simple scene yet perplexing proportions.

Study of Weeds, Study for Winter Fields 1942, Watercolor on paper, 15 x 21 inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

On The Beach 1946, Tempera on panel, 16 x 31 3/4 inches, Private collection 12

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Maplejuice Cove 1942, Watercolor on paper, 17 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Lobsterman (Forrest Wall) 1948, Watercolor, 19 1/2 x 27 1/2 inches

The Pirates 1939, Watercolor on paper, 29 x 21 inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

1950s House Near Chadds Ford a drybrush watercolor was painted in 1955. A simple view of a house with a few windows and a large chimney, painted in Wyeth’s distinctive brown-gray neutral tones. It appears weathered ,empty, abandoned perhaps. But that’s “perhaps.” The dried foliage before it seems equally untended. But then the questions arise. This massive masonry, if not cared for, still stands solid and tall. Looking up from ground level, the building still impresses. Will it have further use? Was it a home? If so, why the massive chimney; if not, what other use did it serve? Could it serve still? And purposely filling the sheet of watercolor paper, the artist allows no signs of its neighborhood. Is the structure isolated or within or part of a neighborhood? How near Chadd’s Ford itself, as the title suggests? House Near Chadds Ford 1955, Watercolor, 19 3/8 x 27 3/8 inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Farm Horse 1954, Watercolor on paper, 19 3/8 x 27 3/8 inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Army Blanket 1957, Watercolor on paper laid down on board, 21 x 29 1/4 inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

1960s Slight Breeze is a tempera painting of 1966. Totally unlike the House Near Chadd’s Ford, Slight Breeze is one of a number of the artist’s paintings which zeros in on a section of a building; unlike the House, too, it appears fairly freshly whitewashed, though the shadows from the building’s corners deflect the sunlight into shades of gray. And unlike House, this is an inhabited building—though the viewer cannot at all estimate its size—for there is a propped up clothesline, stretching across unknown paths. The picture appears in one sense to be about these exterior walls, their corners, the sense of structure, their flatness, and their piercing windows. And yet, deliberately contesting this is the visual concentration on what appears to be the main theme—the bell, supported by vertical—but not fully vertical--struts. The bell’s rounded shape contrasts the geometric smoothness of the walls; it’s small size contrasts with the massive flatness of the walls. The slightly diagonal struts are “off-key” with the sharp verticals of the walls and their corners. The painting appears a dialogue of forms, and though without words, sound enters the scene, too, with the bell producing—presumably—a distinctive sound due to the “slight breeze,” also swaying the single item on the clothes line (and why just one)?

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Study for Grape Wine 1966, Pencil on paper, 16 3/4 x 13 inches

Slight Breeze 1968, Tempera on paper, 24 x 32 7/8 inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Frozen Race

Independence Day

1969, Watercolor, 20 1/4 x 29 1/4 inches

1961, Watercolor on paper, 14 x 20 inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

1970s In 1973 Wyeth painted the watercolor, Whale Bone. A relatively simple picture in grey-brown tones with both a generalized foreground and background, the painting is an image of a tree trunk, highly detailed, and upon it two white whale bones—their “color” vividly contrasting with the general grayness of the rest of the picture, including the tree trunk. But the image projects two questions: why is that very formidable tree trunk still standing and alone—was it a single massive tree and why was it not removed? And secondly, the whale bones—why are they placed there, and if, as seems probable, that is the choice of the artist for his composition, why did he choose this; where did the whale bones come from; and what led him to contrast these small fragments from a once huge mammal, and place them atop the remains of a now decapitated tree? Whalebone 1973, Watercolor on paper, 21 x 29 inches inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Sloop Day 1975, Tempera on panel, 16 x 29 3/4 inches 32

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Surf

Back Entry

1978, Drybrush watercolor on paper, 48 x 29 1/4 inches

1971, Watercolor on paper, 29 3/4 x 21 3/4 inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

In the Orchard 1973, Watercolor and drybrush on paper, 22 1/2 x 29 1/2 inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Nogeeshik Study 1972, Watercoor on paper, 12 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches

Seated by a Tree 1973, Watercolor on paper, 27 7/8 x 21 1/2 inches 38

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

1980s Between 1971 and 1985 Wyeth painted an immense series of images of Helga Testorf, a Chadds Ford neighbor, clothed and nude, of which the drybrush watercolor, The Lovers, depicting his subject seated on a stool and painted in 1981, is an example. A magnificent rendering of glowing human form and flesh, abetted by her golden hair, she is illuminated by the brilliant sunlight streaming through the window at the left, and casting the rest of the room in which she sits into complete darkness—vividly contrasting with the hilly landscape outside, and even the landscape’s reflection in the thick window embrasure. The work might seem, in fact, to lack, a missing element—except that the artist has introduced this with his chosen title. The Lovers, a title Wyeth used a number of times, implies a response to Helga’s sensuous nakedness. Is it a figure in the darkness at which she gazes away from the viewer? If so, there is no sign of him. Is it the light itself which caressingly loves the form—or even the artist who loves the subject, very possibly only as “subject”? The viewer cannot be sure. Lovers Study 1981, Drybrush and watercolor on paper, 23 1/4 x 17 1/4 inches, Private collection

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Nude 1984, Watercolor on paper, 18 1/8 x 24 inches, Private collection

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Anchor Man 1983, Drybrush watercolor on paper, 17 x 34 inches 44

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Grindstone 1981, Watercolor on paper, 20 1/2 x 29 1/4 inches

Refuge 1985, Drybrush on paper, 39 1/2 x 27 inches, Private collection

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Winfieldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Porch 1983, Tempera on board, 24 x 29 5/8 inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Hay Rake 1980, Watercolor on paper, 10 1/2 x 13 3/8 inches, Private collection

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

1990s One of Wyeth’s most unusual pictures—a far cry in spirit from the great majority of his paintings which identify Chadds Ford or Cushing—is the compelling Breakup, a tempera of 1994. In the immediate sense its story is clear—a dramatic sharply broken ice flow on a rapidly moving river, appearing even swifter with the artist’s rapidly rising horizon and dashing perspective. The painting actually references the exceptionally cold winter of 1994 when the Brandywine River froze, and then in spring broke into ice flows, Wyeth inserting into the composition casts of his own hands which his wife had had made. But divorce from the actual “biography,” the two gray-brown hands emerge from holes in the largest sheet of ice, and though presumably appendages of a dead body, seemingly search—and leave fingerprints in the ice—for rescue and salvation? Surely the body is deceased and yet the hands seem not only alive but in motion, contrasted with the flowing but frozen geometry of the blocks of ice. Destructive white nature; dark animated humanity; even the title, Breakup, references certainly the ice flow—but perhaps also the separated hands and the body beneath?

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Breakup 1994, Tempera on panel, 19 3/4 x 28 inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Mirror, Mirror

Bedpost

1991, Watercolor, 38 3/4 x 27 inches

1999, Watercolor, 29 x 22 inches, Private collection

Shipâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Door 1992, Tempera on panel, 25 5/8 x 45 7/8 inches 56

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Coming Ashore 1991, Tempera, 22 1/4 x 33 3/8 inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Only Child 1999, Drybrush and watercolor on paper, 22 x 30 inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

2000s Guarded, a 2001 drybrush watercolor is a simple but moving image of a brown-haired young girl seated in a chair up against a blank wall, all in Wyeth’s choice of neutral tones—in this case, various shades of brown which even harmonize with the slight tan-like washes of the back wall and the skin of the young woman. Only the specks of blue of her eyes and a bit of blue fabric on the back of her chair interrupt this harmony of brownish tones. Compared to many, the image is simple, and perhaps this can be viewed simply as the artist’s study of the female nude. But only “perhaps.” For the way she folds her hands, right over left, the tension of her body, her right shoulder raised, and the slight degree of tension in her face, offers the question of where her gaze is directed. Is it simply a model’s pose chosen by the artist? Or is there some anxiety; is there a story here—is the subject, as the title suggests, “guarded”? Is there something more?

Guarded 2001, Drybrush watercolor on paper, 20 x 14 inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

Checklist Army Blanket 1957, Watercolor on paper laid down on board, 21 x 29 1/4 inches

Anchor Man 1983, Drybrush watercolor on paper, 17 x 34 inches

Back Entry 1971, Watercolor on paper, 29 3/4 x 21 3/4 inches

Bedpost 1999, Watercolor, 29 x 22 inches, Private collection

Breakup 1994, Tempera on panel, 19 3/4 x 28 inches

Coming Ashore 1991, Tempera, 22 1/4 x 33 3/8 inches

Farm Horse 1954, Watercolor on paper, 19 3/8 x 27 3/8 inches

Frozen Race 1969, Watercolor, 20 1/4 x 29 1/4 inches

Grindstone 1981, Watercolor on paper, 20 1/2 x 29 1/4 inches

Guarded 2001, Drybrush watercolor on paper, 20 x 14 inches

Hay Rake 1980, Watercolor on paper, 10 1/2 x 13 3/8 inches, Private collection

House Near Chadds Ford 1955, Watercolor, 19 3/8 x 27 3/8 inches

Independence Day 1961, Watercolor on paper, 14 x 20 inches

In the Orchard 1973, Watercolor and drybrush on paper, 22 1/2 x 29 1/2 inches

Lobsterman (Forrest Wall) 1948, Watercolor on paper, 19 1/2 x 27 1/2 inches

Lovers Study 1981, Drybrush and watercolor, 23 1/4 x 17 1/4 inches, Private collection

Maplejuice Cove 1942, Watercolor on paper, 17 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

22 44-45 35 59 55 56-57 21 28 47 63 19 29

29 38 16 41 15

Mirror Mirror 1991, Watercolor, 38 3/4 x 27 inches

Nogeeshik Study 1972, Watercolor on paper, 12 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches

Nude 1984, Watercolor on paper, 18 1/8 x 24 inches, Private collection

Only Child 1999, Drybrush and watercolor on paper, 22 x 30 inches

On The Beach 1946, Tempera on panel, 16 x 31 3/4 inches, Private collection

Refuge 1985, Drybrush on paper, 39 1/2 x 27 inches, Private collection

Seated by a Tree 1973, Watercolor on paper, 27 7/8 x 21 1/2 inches

Shipâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Door 1992, Tempera on panel, 25 5/8 x 45 7/8 inches

Slight Breeze 1968, Tempera on paper, 24 x 32 7/8 inches

Sloop Day 1975, Tempera on panel, 16 x 29 3/4 inches

Study for Grape Wine 1966, Pencil on paper, 16 3/4 x 13 inches

Study of Weeds, Study for Winter Fields 1942, Watercolor on paper, 15 x 21 inches

Surf 1978, Drybrush watercolor on paper, 48 x 29 1/4 inches

The Pirates 1939, Watercolor on paper, 29 x 21 inches

Whalebone 1973, Watercolor on paper, 21 x 29 1/4 inches

Winfieldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Porch 1983, Tempera on board, 24 x 29 5/8 inches

58 39 42 61 12-13 46 38 50-51 27 32-33 25 11 34 17 31 49

he last time we saw the artist my wife T snapped this photograph. Andy was greeting us at the dock when we visited him at his home on Benner Island, Maine in October 2008. He was in fine spirits and, as he had done for his entire career, he was still up at sunrise and painting all day at the age of 91. We spent a memorable afternoon, and it never occurred to us that in a few months he would be gone. Warren Adelson

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades

All works copyright ©Andrew Wyeth Nude, Refuge and Seated by a Tree courtesy of Pacific Sun Trading Company Published on the occasion of the exhibition Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades November 18th through December 20th, 2014

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Front Cover : Ship’s Door, 1992, Tempera on panel, 25 5/8 x 45 7/8 inches

Andrew Wyeth - Seven Decades