Andrew Wyeth

There is lots of snow on the ground in Seattle and environs. Lots of hills here and we don't deal with snow very well. Time to hunker down with a good book. I recently acquired a book entitled Andrew Wyeth: Autobiography. The title is misleading. The book is an art book containing one hundred thirty-three of Wyeth's paintings with usually a short comment by Wyeth. Wyeth is probably most recognized for his painting, "Christina's World" and for a series of nudes of Helga. But his landscapes and portraits of people, commonplace things, and buildings around his home in Chadds Ford, PA are wonderful examples of 20th Century realism. Some of you may know that he is the son of N.C. Wyeth, the wonderful painter of illustration for many classic books. He is also the father of Jaimie Wyeth, the third generation painter in the family, equally talented.

Sometimes Wyeth's commentary tells a story in a sentence. Commenting on "Teel's Island," painted in 1954, he says: "Henry Teel had a punt, and one day he hauled it up on the bank and went to the mainland and died."

This is a wonderful book I will treasure. We saw an exhibit at the Frye Museum which featured works by all three Wyeths. And on a trip to the east we saw an exhibit of Andrew's work, including all of the Helga nudes, at the Portland Art Museum. This book was remaindered from Daedalus. Search www.salebooks.com