Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) American, Art Folio "Four Seasons: 12 Reproductions." Printed by Arts in American in 1963. 1st Edition Folio with tweed cover, one of only 1000. The drawings were selected by Andrew and Betsy Wyeth from works in the house and studio at Chadds Ford, supplemented by some owned by friends. The plates were made directly from the originals. Unsigned.
Condition: Book in great shape, outer box shows wear and spotting.
Size: 17 12 x 14 x 1 in.
#7681 #63 .
Andrew Newell Wyeth was born on July 12th, 1917 in Chadds Ford Township, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of the five children of illustrator and artist Newell Convers (N. C.) Wyeth and his wife, Carolyn Bockius Wyeth. The family was close, spending time reading together, taking walks, fostering “a closeness with nature,” and developing a passion for art. Andrew was home-schooled because of frail health, and sought early on to work on poetry, music, or films. N. C. Wyeth was famous for his realistic work in magazines, posters and advertisements, a celebrity who attracted others to their home, introducing the children to many artists and inspiring Andrew's sisters Henriette and Carolyn to become painters as well. Andrew started drawing at the age of one, and it is said that he was practically a draftsman before he could even read. In his teens his father brought him into his studio for the only art lessons he ever had, and inspired Andrew’s love of rural landscapes, sense of romance, and artistic traditions. Although Andrew did not initially want to become an illustrator he created many images under his father’s guidance, mastering figure study and watercolor, and later learned egg tempera from his brother-in-law Peter Hurd. He studied art history on his own, admiring many masters of the Renaissance as well as American paintings, especially Winslow Homer. In 1937 Andrew had his first solo exhibition of his impressionist watercolors at the Macbeth Gallery in New York City. The entire inventory of paintings sold out, and ignited significant debate in his contemporary artistic community about the social and political implications of how he portrayed his middle-class subjects. On May 15th, 1940, Andrew married Betsy James, whom he met the previous year on a family trip to Maine. Christina Olson, who was to become the model for his most famous work, “Christina’s World,” met Andrew through Betsy, who began managing his career. This caused a rift between Andrew and his father, who disagreed with his artistic choices, but in 1945 his father was killed when his car stalled on railroad tracks and was struck by a train. This became the definitive formative emotional event in his life and artistic career, and he credited it with maturing his work into the enduring style he became famous for. His realist, regionalist style made him one of the best known modern artists in the country by the mid 1950s. He began to make portraits in the 1960s, which were predominantly studies of his neighbors and close friends. His favorite subjects were the land and people immediately around him, both in his hometown and at his summer home in Cushing, Maine. He created 300 drawings and paintings of windows alone, considered one of his primary obsessions. One of his most polarizing bodies of work was a series of 247 studies of a single model, Helga Testorf, a caregiver living at the farm of one of his most common subjects, the family of Karl Kuener. It was released in 1986 and toured extensively, taking nearly 15 years to complete, and this extensive study of one subject in so many differing contexts and emotional states is considered unique in American art, indicative of Andrew’s compulsive nature and persistence. Even in the 1970s Andrew was called the “most overrated and underrated artist in America,” referring to his technically beautiful works and popularity with collectors despite lukewarm critical acceptance for his style and themes. His work is found in most major American museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Smithsonian. He was the first painter to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, the first American artist since John Singer Sargent to be elected to the French Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1977, and the first American ever elected to Britain’s Royal Academy in 1980. He also won Congressional Gold Medals, was elected to almost a dozen American arts academies and societies, and was given an honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts by Bates College. On January 16th, 2009, Andrew Wyeth died in his sleep at his home in Chadds Ford after a brief illness. His son Jamie Wyeth continues to follow in the family footsteps, having become an artist himself.
Condition
Book in great shape, outer box shows wear and spotting.
