“Christina’s World” was my father’s favorite painting. An illustration done in acrylics of a handicapped woman in her rural envirnoment painted by Andrew Wyeth. Among other things, Wyeth’s style was heralded for its realism and perspective, and for the use of acrylic paints.
My father was an artist and an engineer. His favorite painter was Andrew Wyeth, and his favorite painting was “Christina’s World”.
Wyeth leaves behind a significant cultural contribution to an illustrative, journalist style of painting combined with a subtle sensitivity that makes this image so powerful.
The Wyeth family is very talented.Andrew’s father N.C. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._C._Wyeth was a great artist , painter and illustrator.Jamie son of Andrew is also a excellent painter.
If you are ever in Greenville , S.C. the Greenville museum has one of the best Andrew Wyeth collections in the U.S. about 35 works.
Thanks for posting this, Tom. I had considered it myself. Wyeth’s paintings - either by tone or by subject - evoke memories of my childhood country farm in northern PA, where I collected some of the most cherished memories of my life. I bought my mother tickets to his show at the Philadelphia Art Museum for her birthday last year, but was not able to attend with her. Her first response was “It reminds me of Towanda.”
Here is another of Wyeth’s painting of her. From the article in this journal:
During one of his trips to Maine, Wyeth met Christina Olson and her brother Alvaro, who lived in a dilapidated, peaked-roof farmhouse in Cushing. Christina, disabled from poliomyelitis or some aggressive form of arthritis, had difficulty walking. Her strength and perseverance intrigued and inspired him, and during their long friendship, he kept a studio in the Olson household. Christina’s World (1948), the image, from the back, of his friend in a large field crawling toward her home, became one of the most recognized American paintings. “I felt the loneliness of that figure—perhaps the same that I felt myself as a kid,” Wyeth said of the work (2).
Christina Olson, on this month’s cover, allows a more generous glimpse of the figure’s profile of illness, disability, and their psychological outcome. In Wyeth’s words, “a wounded gull,” Christina has been left behind. Alone, she rests on the threshold, her body propped against the open door, hair blown softly in the breeze. Her posture in the center of the painting, erect and dignified, defies the somber aspect of her wasting limbs. Unable to join in, she seeks a lighted spot, an outlet into normalcy. And, “in the moment,” she soaks up the sun, connecting with the universe.
As a person who grew up jus outside of Bucks Cty, PA, Wyeth’s paintings have always been a huge presence in my home. I love Master Bedroom, not only because it is a Wyeth, but it reminds me of my Labrador sneaking a nap on my bed. It hangs in my living room.
My Mom is a HUGE Wyeth fan and collector and she has several signed prints (I’ve asked for one in her will). I think they have a Jamie Wyeth too.
Near to my heart as an engineer is Andrew’s brother Nathaniel, who, at DuPont, led development of the 2 liter polyester beverage container, creating a process the leads to a biaxial molecular orientation state that allows the bottle to withstand the internal pressure.
Different canvas, but equal creativity… or, maybe I’m just a nerd.
N.C. died with a grandson in a tragic accident when the car he was driving was struck by a train. If I remember correctly, they were unable to determine whether the car had stalled or whether N.C. had passed out or otherwise became disabled (heart attack, stroke) at the most inopportune time. The accident haunted me because, when I first heard the story, the grandson was the same age as my son.
My wife is a portrait artist and a big fan of all three Wyeths. We once went on a pilgrimage to Brandywine on her account.
I grew up about 20 minutes from Chadds Ford. A copy of Master Bedroom is hanging in my parents’ living room. I was sad to see Andrew Wyeth had passed away.
He will be missed. I have bought and sold many a Wyeth print. Great artist up there with the best. Almost had a small painting of his that came up in a “box Lot” at a local auction. Unfortunatly for me someone else with deeper pockets new it was there too.
