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Andrew Wyeth, Giant Of American Realism, Dies At 91
  
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By Jonathan L. Fischer, The Bulletin
Andrew Wyeth, whose melancholic, realist landscapes of the Brandywine Valley and coastal Maine established him as one of the most notable and recognizable American painters of the 20th century, died Friday morning. He was 91.
He died in his sleep at his Chadds Ford home, the Brandywine River Museum wrote in an e-mailed statement Friday. The museum, also in Chadds Ford, houses many works by Mr. Wyeth, his father, the painter N.C. Wyeth, and other members of the family.
Mr. Wyeth’s most famous painting is “Christina’s World” (1948), in which he depicted a paraplegic woman lying in a field and looking longingly at a farmhouse in Maine. The work hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and is considered part of the canon of American art.
"The world has lost one of the greatest artists of all time," said George A. Weymouth, a friend of Mr. Wyeth and chairman of the board of the Brandywine Conservancy, according to the e-mailed statement.
Mr. Wyeth achieved fame and fortune during the apex of abstract expressionism, and his realist style, then out of fashion in the art world, never endeared the artist to the day’s critics.
Mr. Wyeth was born on July 12, 1917 in Chadds Ford to N.C. and Carolyn Bockius Wyeth, and he started training in his father’s studio at age 15. Around that time, Mr. Wyeth began depicting in his work the Chadds Ford farm of Karl and Anna Kuerner, as well as other sites in that area.
The Wyeth family spent summers in Maine, whose scenery was also a frequent subject of Mr. Wyeth’s paintings.
He married Betsy James in 1940.
Mr. Wyeth received many awards throughout his life. President John F. Kennedy in 1963 named Mr. Wyeth the first artist to receive the Presidential Freedom Award, the United States’ highest civilian award. Seven years alter, Mr. Wyeth became the first living artist to have an exhibition in the White House. He earned the gold medal for painting from the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1965, and in 1977 became the first American artist since John Singer Sargent to be inducted into the French Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1978, the Soviety Academy of the Arts elected him an honorary member, and he received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1990. President George W. Bush awarded Mr. Wyeth the National Medal of the Arts last year.
Mr. Wyeth is survived by his wife; his son Nicholas and his wife Lee; his son Jamie and his wife Phyliss; and a granddaughter, Victoria.
Services will be private. According the e-mailed statement, the family has requested that donations be made to the Brandywine River Museum and the Farnsworth Art Museum.
Jonathan L. Fischer can be reached at jfischer@thebulletin.us
He died in his sleep at his Chadds Ford home, the Brandywine River Museum wrote in an e-mailed statement Friday. The museum, also in Chadds Ford, houses many works by Mr. Wyeth, his father, the painter N.C. Wyeth, and other members of the family.
Mr. Wyeth’s most famous painting is “Christina’s World” (1948), in which he depicted a paraplegic woman lying in a field and looking longingly at a farmhouse in Maine. The work hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and is considered part of the canon of American art.
"The world has lost one of the greatest artists of all time," said George A. Weymouth, a friend of Mr. Wyeth and chairman of the board of the Brandywine Conservancy, according to the e-mailed statement.
Mr. Wyeth achieved fame and fortune during the apex of abstract expressionism, and his realist style, then out of fashion in the art world, never endeared the artist to the day’s critics.
Mr. Wyeth was born on July 12, 1917 in Chadds Ford to N.C. and Carolyn Bockius Wyeth, and he started training in his father’s studio at age 15. Around that time, Mr. Wyeth began depicting in his work the Chadds Ford farm of Karl and Anna Kuerner, as well as other sites in that area.
The Wyeth family spent summers in Maine, whose scenery was also a frequent subject of Mr. Wyeth’s paintings.
He married Betsy James in 1940.
Mr. Wyeth received many awards throughout his life. President John F. Kennedy in 1963 named Mr. Wyeth the first artist to receive the Presidential Freedom Award, the United States’ highest civilian award. Seven years alter, Mr. Wyeth became the first living artist to have an exhibition in the White House. He earned the gold medal for painting from the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1965, and in 1977 became the first American artist since John Singer Sargent to be inducted into the French Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1978, the Soviety Academy of the Arts elected him an honorary member, and he received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1990. President George W. Bush awarded Mr. Wyeth the National Medal of the Arts last year.
Mr. Wyeth is survived by his wife; his son Nicholas and his wife Lee; his son Jamie and his wife Phyliss; and a granddaughter, Victoria.
Services will be private. According the e-mailed statement, the family has requested that donations be made to the Brandywine River Museum and the Farnsworth Art Museum.
Jonathan L. Fischer can be reached at jfischer@thebulletin.us
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