For the Wyeths, art is definitely a family affair.  In her own way, Victoria Wyeth, a fourth generation family member (daughter of Nicholas Wyeth, granddaughter of Andrew Wyeth, great-granddaughter of N.C. Wyeth, and niece of Jamie Wyeth), is carrying on the tradition by conducting guided tours at the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, home to all things Wyeth.  I recently visited the museum and enjoyed an afternoon of Victoria’s riveting descriptions of her grandfather’s work.  Providing insight and background, only a family member could share, Victoria is not only protective of her grandfather’s legacy but also one of his biggest boosters.

Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, PA. Photo: Lesley Stein

Located in southeastern Pennsylvania on the banks of the Brandywine River, the museum is housed in a meticulously restored 1864 gristmill.  A stone’s throw from Andrew Wyeth’s famed Pennsylvania country home, this gem of a museum also features numerous works by the family patriarch and acclaimed illustrator, N.C. Wyeth.  An entire gallery is dedicated to N.C. Wyeth’s paintings and illustrations.   It features 40 memorable works produced for the books Treasure Island, Kidnapped and The Last of the Mohicans.  Artwork by Andrew Wyeth’s son Jamie Wyeth can also be viewed at the museum.  A current exhibition, Farm Work, includes his bold painting Portrait of Pig, 1970, Oil on canvas.  It was truly fascinating to see this painting up close.  Among the 40 or so works in the Andrew Wyeth Gallery are several pieces that have not been seen publicly for many years.  Included are a variety of drawings, watercolors, and egg tempera paintings Wyeth produced during his decades long career. 

According to Victoria Wyeth, her grandfather started painting at age six and made over 10,000 paintings during his lifetime (1919-2009).  The subject matter and themes of these thousands of paintings are quite similar: gloomy fall and winter scenes in Chadds Ford, and serene spring and summer scenes of Maine (Wyeth’s summer home).  Andrew Wyeth also painted many portraits of his longtime neighbors, all in their humble environs.  In response to critics who claimed he painted the same thing over and over, Victoria Wyeth said, “These paintings are about what he liked, not what you like.”  She explained how her grandfather often determined his subject matter, “He would get in the car and drive and see something of interest.”  And in case there was any doubt, she added, “Let me be clear: no one in this family works from photographs.”  Raising her arm and pointing in a sweeping gesture to framed canvases on the wall Victoria explained, “These are his friends, this is who he painted.  He hated commissions so he painted for himself.  He was doing realism when everyone else was doing abstraction.”

One painting that really stood out for me was Andrew Wyeth’s Snow Hill, 1989, Tempera on panel.  He may have painted this to celebrate his 70^th birthday but hauntingly it celebrates his death.  Victoria Wyeth said, “This is his death scene.”  In the painting, he imagined six of his friends and neighbors who appear in many of his earlier works (Karl Kuener, his wife Anna, Bill Loper, Helga Testorf, Allan Lynch and Adam Johnson) dancing around a flagpole, on a snowy hillside.  His granddaughter pointed out, “The painting shows movement, something you don’t see in his paintings.  It depicts his friends who leapt out of their portraits, dressed exactly as they were.  It’s them dancing at his death.” 

Andrew Wyeth, "Snow Hill," 1989, Tempera on panel. Photo: WSJ.com

Victoria explained that her grandmother, Andrew Wyeth’s wife Betsy, had the pole installed in their yard and placed a Christmas tree on top.  In the painting, the artist has moved the pole and the Christmas tree to a hill on the neighbor’s (Kuener’s) property.  The colorful streamers each of the figures holds onto stand out starkly against the nearly empty snow-white backdrop.  One streamer however is not held by anyone.  There is much speculation this could represent the artist himself who once said, “I wish I could be invisible when I am painting.”  Although she was only ten years old when her grandfather painted Snow Hill, Victoria Wyeth said, “The idea for the painting came eight years before he started it.”  Presumably, that gave him plenty of time to think about life and death and his own mortality.

At the conclusion of the tour, Victoria Wyeth said of her grandfather, “Remember that he was a great dad, husband and grandfather.  And he loved to paint.  He taught me how to see the world through his eyes.”

The current Andrew Wyeth exhibit is on view to the public until September 19, 2011.  The Brandywine River Museum is located on U.S. Route 1 and PA Route 100 in Chadds Ford, PA

Please Leave a Comment