Stop and Think About Your Art (and Andrew Wyeth's)

An Early Acrylic of Mine

Hi-

Someone recently gave me a back issue of Smithsonian Magazine that they had saved for me because there was an article on Andrew Wyeth. They know I like to read articles and books about all kinds of artists, so it was appreciated.

The article was from June, 2006, so it was a while ago, and before he passed away last year. It is an in-depth article written by Henry Adams and also shows some of Wyeth's well-known paintings.

The author called Christina’s World, which is shown, “one of the two or three most famous American paintings of the 20th century.” He put it in the same category as Grant Wood’s American Gothic and Edward Hopper’s (a favorite of mine, you know) Nighthawks.

Now that is saying something.

I also learned about his early art training from his famous father, NC, about his early success as a painter,  about the importance of his wife’s encouragement, and his stature as a realist.

A couple of things in the article stood out and made me stop and think.

One was a quote from Wyeth--“Magic! It’s what makes things sublime. It’s the difference between a picture that is profound art and just a painting of an object.”

The other was about art historian Robert Rosenblum who, when asked to name the most underrated and the most overrated artists of the century, said--Andrew Wyeth.

The first thing tells me there is more to a painting than just a rendering of what an artist sees.

The second tells me that some will always like your work while others will always dislike your work.

You should stop and think about these things, too.

Until next blog...