January 16, 2009
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Andrew Wyeth
July 12, 1917 - January 16, 2009As I have mentioned here before… Andrew Wyeth was one of my all time
favorite artists. His paintings had such a sense of timelessness and
simplicity yet they conveyed very complex emotions. I thought it was
amazing how he could through simple color and structure of inanimate
objects communicate such emotion! There were blatant displays of
emotion as in the famous painting “Christina’s World”, but there were also just
as much emotion portrayed in the rugged wood of an old home or a lone
tree. He was a very talented man indeed… and will be missed.Some have described Wyeth’s work as melancholy due to the fact that he
painted elderly people, wintery bare trees and he predominately used
shades of brown. Wyeth however chose to describe his work as
“thoughtful,”…. and I highly agree. I think Andrew Wyeth was a
master at communicating the type of emotion that bypasses intellectual
analysis… it just goes straight to the heart. For me his
paintings could bring a lump to my throat and I wouldn’t even know
why. That is true art!Here is how he responded to the frequent descriptions of his paintings as “melancholy”…..
“I do an awful lot of thinking and dreaming about things in the past
and the future — the timelessness of the rocks and the hills — all the
people who have existed there. “I prefer winter and fall, when you feel
the bone structure in the landscape — the loneliness of it — the dead
feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it; the whole story doesn’t
show.
“I think anything like that — which is contemplative, silent, shows a
person alone — people always feel is sad. Is it because we’ve lost the
art of being alone?”Hmm… something to think about… have we lost the “art” of being alone?
Bee
P.S. For those of you who missed it the first time… below is the link to a beautiful video of Wyeth’s paintings set to music.
Comments (4)
I am sorry he is gone…he is one of my favorites, too. I love so much of his work. I hope he knew the first Artist.
@BooksForMe -
Amen… I also hope he knew the “first artist”.
One of my roommates in college, an art major, prized her Andrew Wyeth prints so much they got they place of honor on the wall over her bed. That’s how I was introduced to him.
Hello Bee! I’ve been here ‘digesting’ the posts on your site … so many things to pray about, to ponder, and to seriously think about! And, I do love art, but I have to say that I’m not familiar with Andrew Wyeth … so I had check out that video … such beautiful work, which most certainly provokes ‘thought’ … as does his ‘quote’ on whether, or not, we’ve lost the art of being alone! I will have to find out more about him. Thanks for sharing this! I do hope you’re having a nice weekend … and keeping warm! We’re going to have some more very cold temps overnight, but no snow. I’m beginning to feel somewhat ‘normal’ again after the flu that I had, and then my husband broke his ankle … during all that, our son came for a week’s visit … so much going on, but things seem to be calming a bit. I’m ‘alone’ here, right now, and enjoying every quiet moment of it! You have a blessed weekend, and thank you so much for sharing as you do here on Xanga! Blessings ~ Deborah <><