Wyeth in his poetry and lightness of painting can help us understand the beauty of that naturalness that sooner or later we all should have.
Andrew Wyeth, in full Andrew Newell Wyeth, (1917- 2009) American watercolorist and tempera worker best known for his realistic depictions of the buildings, fields, hills and people of his private world.
Wyeth's father, NC Wyeth, was a noted illustrator who had studied under Howard Pyle and who, as of 1932, was his son's only teacher. Andrew Wyeth's first exhibition was in 1936 at the Art Alliance of Philadelphia, but his first major exhibition in New York City took place in 1937 at the Macbeth Gallery. The show was an instant success and every picture was sold. Wyeth's imagery came almost entirely from two locations, the Brandywine Valley around Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and the area near his summer home in Cushing, Maine. Wyeth's technical resources are substantial. His work exhibits a strong linear quality, and within his limited palette, composed mostly of earth tones, he achieves a slightly broad range of colors. His paintings are precise and detailed, yet he moves them beyond photographic naturalism by giving them a sense of subjective emotion. Her best-known painting, Christina's World (1948), achieves a note of melancholy in its depiction of a polio victim who appears to be attempting to climb a hill. This work also exemplifies his use of unusual angles and his mastery of light. Between 1971 and 1985 Wyeth secretly painted Helga Testorf, her neighbor in Chadds Ford, creating hundreds of images of her, including nudes of her.
Clearing price: €160.565 ($180.000) Price including charges: €200.706 ($225.000) Starting price: €142.724 ($160.000) Estimate: €178.405 – €267.608 ($200.000 – $300.000 ) Sotheby's, 05/03/2020New York, USA . Signed “Andrew Wyeth” lower rightOrigin: The artist; private collection. Maine, 1984 (gift from the above); Private Collection, Connecticut; Private collection, Connecticut (by descent from the above; sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 22. 2013. lot 2).
Clearing price: €152.260 ($170.000) Estimate: €71.651 – €89.564 ($80.000 – $100.000 ) Simpson's, 19/05/2019Houston TX, United States. Signed Dedication “For Wendell Hadlock, with warmest and highest regards, Andy Wyeth”Origin: Gift of the artist to Wendell S. Hadlock, Maine, 1957.
Clearing price: €135.384 ($150.000) Price including charges: €169.230 ($187.500) Starting price: €99.281 ($110.000) Estimate: €135.384 – €225.640 ($150.000 – $250.000 ) Sotheby's, 19/11/2019New York, United States . Signed “Andrew Wyeth” lower left Notes: Property from the Collection of Phyliss and C. Douglas DillonOrigin: Private collection, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, circa 1952; Coe Kerr Gallery, New York; Private collection, circa 1977 (acquired from the above); By descent to the present ownerExposure: Rockland, Maine, Farnsworth Art Museum, 2000.
Clearing price: €89.598 ($100.000) Price including charges: €111.997 ($125.000) Estimate: €89.598 – €134.397 ($100.000 – $150.000 ) Sotheby's, 21/05/2019New York, United States
Signed “Andrew Wyeth” lower right Notes: Property of an Important Private CollectorOrigin: The artist; Wilhelmina Bergland Stabler, 1950 (gift from the above); Private collection, 2012 (by descent); Acquired by the present owner from the above, 2017Exposure: Jacksonville, Florida: Jacksonville Art Museum, 1992, no. 16.
Clearing price: €144.823 ($170.000) Price including charges: €181.028 ($212.500) Estimate: €68.152 – €102.228 ($80.000 – $120.000) Christie's, 21/11/2017 New York, United States
Signed high. Provenance: Iida Galleries, Tokyo, Japan, 1984.
