Andrew Wyeth

Andrew Wyeth, 1917-2009

Andrew Wyeth, one of the last great American painters, passed away last night in his sleep. He was at home in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.

(Today's article on his life's work, from the Washington Post.)

There are sadly few true artists like Wyeth today, and America will surely feel the loss of such a talented man.

His works, with their delicate beauty, peace, and his powerful use of light and shade, contain strong emotional undercurrents.. Every strand of hair, blade of grass and branch on a tree can be seen in it's perfect detail...

Andrew Wyeth was an inspiration, and one which will live on forever... In his own words, from his 1976 exhibition interview;

In some of Wyeth's most unforgettable portraits the subject is not even there. He told Mr. Hoving, "I think a person permeates a spot, and that lost presence makes the environment timeless to me. A lost presense keeps the area alive." Thus, a room, a house, a table setting, such as Karl Kuerner's in "Ground Hog Day" become "the very essence of the man who wasn't there."

In this sense Wyeth's painting is the epitome of the "less is more" precept, an application of measure and effacement that the artist extends even to himself. So intense is his involvement and his control of its expression that Wyeth loses himself in his work and can say quite matter-of-factly, "I don't think I exist really as a person, particularly, I really don't and I'd rather not."

Above, one of my favorite Andrew Wyeth Paintings, "South Cushing", 1955.

Below is a collage, which was passed onto me, of some of his works.. this is beautiful...