Andrew Wyeth: Breaking All The Rules

Ice Pond                                                                                                      1969

In the world of birthdays today we note that of the American painter, Andrew Wyeth. He was born in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania in 1917 and died there in 2009 after a lifetime of painting individuals and landscapes near his home and at his summer residence in Maine. He represented the second of three generations of famous painters in the Wyeth family. His father, N. C. Wyeth, was a renowned illustrator and painter. His son, Jamie, who turned 72 last week, continues painting literally in his father's footsteps in Pennsylvania and Maine.

I can best characterize his work as compelling, thought-provoking dreams on canvas, not quite real, not quite abstract. In this post are three painting by Wyeth offering a comfortable contrast to the season of his birth. They are a very thin segment of the artist's world in and around his home and studio at Chadds Ford. Readers can see the full range of his subjects at his authorized website.

Branch In The Snow                                                                                    1980

Shredded Wheat                                                                                          1982

My aim is to escape from the medium with which I work; to leave no residue of technical mannerisms to stand between my expression and the observer. To seek freedom through significant form and design rather than through the diversion of so-called free and accidental brush handling.

My aim is not to exhibit craft, but rather to submerge it, and make it rightfully the handmaiden of beauty, power and emotional content.

What you have to do is break all the rules.

For more information, references, and sources about Andrew Wyeth visit his Wikipedia page here.



Sources

Quotes, art-quotes.com