The magical realism of the artist's paintings, which was not recognized by critics and adored by the public: Andrew Wyeth

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

World famous and one of the most beloved artists of the conservative part of American society, Andrew Wyeth became one of the most expensive contemporary artists of the 20th century. However, at the same time, he was one of the most underrated American painters. His creations, written in a realistic manner, in the era of the rise of abstractionism and modernity, caused a storm of protest and negative responses from influential critics and art historians. But the American viewer in droves went to exhibitions of works, curators of museums secretly bought his paintings, so as not to be known as retrogrades, and only fellow artists knew for sure that Andrew Wyeth was a powerful and mysterious talent.

With all this, Andrew has never been a fashionable artist, for many years his work was considered the most controversial in the history of American art of the past century. And despite the fact that critics accused the painter of lack of imagination, and that he indulges the low tastes of housewives, these same housewives responded to Wyeth with sincere gratitude and love. His expositions of works, wherever they were exhibited, were held with invariable sold out houses. - wrote in 1963 in a New York newspaper, - And this was happening just at the time when America was under the absolute influence of modernity and abstractionism.

A realist artist, a brilliant representative of the fine arts of the United States of the last century - Andrew Newell Wyeth was born in 1917 in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania in the family of illustrator Newell Converse Wyeth, who won fame for his romantic book illustrations. Not only that, Andrew was the brother of inventor Natheniel Wyeth and artist Henrietta Wyeth Heard, and finally the father of artist Jamie Wyeth.

Andrew was the youngest child in the family. Observing his father's work, the boy began to paint very early. Newell did his best to develop imaginative thinking, imagination and creativity in his children. In addition to raising his own children, Newell generously shared his experiences with his students, of whom he had more than a dozen. He sincerely believed:.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Andrew began to draw almost before he spoke. Later, remembering his formation as an artist, he always named his father first among his teachers. And this was the lion's share of the truth. Newell decided that the artist did not need college and taught his son the art of art on his own, and other sciences were taught to the boy by a teacher who came to his house.

And the first independent successes were not long in coming. Andrew, who presented his early works under his father's name, switched to watercolor technique, and soon to tempera. And realism attracted him much more than the bookish fantasies of his father. And, despite the fact that for some time he himself had to be engaged in book illustration, he nevertheless decided to go his own way in creativity. Thus, the first personal exhibition of watercolors by Andrew Wyeth took place in New York in 1937, when he was twenty years old. All the creations of the novice master exhibited there were successfully sold.

Much has changed in the life of the 28-year-old artist after the tragic event that happened in their family: the car of Wyeth Sr. collided with a freight train at a railway crossing, as a result of which he died. Since then, the imprint of loss and a certain tragedy have always been present on Andrew's canvases.

Moreover, already not very sociable, he became withdrawn and lived the rest of his life as a recluse. And this was a significant plus, it was the detachment from the worldly bustle that helped the artist not to react sharply to the attacks of critics and not to notice that somewhere nearby "the twentieth century is roaring and raging."

And it should be noted that the artist treasured a secluded and measured way of life. He rarely left Chadds Ford, sometimes only going to Cushing, Maine, where his house on the coast stood in the summer. Living alternately, now in Pennsylvania, then in Maine, the painter created his amazing paintings, which later art critics will attribute to the direction of magical realism.

The artist painted only the terrain of these two towns, painted only portraits of their inhabitants. And speaking of "the world of Andrew Wyeth," referring to geography, we can say that he was very tiny. The unchanging theme of Wyeth's work has always been provincial life and American nature. Ordinary rural landscapes, old buildings and simple interiors, ordinary provincial people, painted with Wyeth's brush, look like vivid witnesses of national American history and archetypal images of the "American dream".

Andrew has always been able to find and emphasize poetry, philosophy and magic in the simple weathered faces of neighbors and friends, as well as in the "soil" landscapes of the American prairie, opening from the windows of their homes. Preferring the tempera technique, which allows for a particularly subtle elaboration of details, the master continued the traditions of American romanticism and realism. The artist's style practically did not change during his creative career, although over time, Wyeth's paintings became more symbolic, moving towards magical realism.

The nationwide love and recognition of specialists from art still overtook the artist. When the wave of the abstraction craze subsided, it suddenly became clear that housewives have excellent taste, and that the old houses, fishing nets and boats, as well as the scorched prairies of American landscapes, Andrew Wyeth also have something to tell people. It was at that time that the main secret of the artist's talent was called the ability to present the viewer with the most ordinary things with a philosophical connotation, as well as to give the canvases such an emotional color, to which both the hearts and souls of the audience responded, who did not know either his heroes or the circumstances of their life. nor the places that the painter portrayed.

And finally, I would like to note that, unlike their creator, Andrew's paintings have traveled all over the world. His solo exhibitions were held in many leading galleries in the world, including in Russia in 1987, where the exposition was a tremendous success.

In 2007, US President Bush Jr. personally presented the artist with the National Medal, America's highest art award.

And two years later, at the age of 91, Andrew Wyeth died in his sleep at his home in Chadds Ford. Shortly before his death, he said:

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Bonus

Jamie Wyeth - successor of the Wyeth dynasty

Andrew's son and Newell Wyeth's grandson, James Browning, aka Jamie Wyeth, is a contemporary American realist painter. From a young age, he attracted the attention of the public as a representative of the third generation of famous American artists. In 1966, his works were exhibited for the first time at a personal exhibition. And since 1971 it has gained wide popularity. Twice, in 1975 and 1987, he visited the Soviet Union. In 1987 he opened the exhibition Three Generations of Wyeth Art in Leningrad.

The most iconic and masterpiece creation of Andrew Wyeth is considered the painting "Christina's World", which fully reflects the spirit, mentality and attitude of the American people.