The Mona Bismarck Foundation presents The Wyeths: Three Generations of American Art (Les Wyeths: trois generations d’art américain). On view 10 Nov, 2011 through 12 Feb, 2012.
N.C. Wyeth (1882–1945), A Young Maine Fisherman, 1933, Oil on canvas, 52 1/8” x 48 3/8”, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Collection
N. C. Wyeth (1882–1945) has long been considered one of the nation’s leading illustrators. In the early 1900s, he studied with illustrator Howard Pyle in Delaware. In 1911, he built a house and studio in nearby Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. Later, he bought a sea captain’s house in Maine and in 1931 built a small studio, which he shared with his son Andrew and his daughters. The exhibition includes illustrations for books by Robert Louis Stevenson and Washington Irving as well as historical scenes, seascapes, and landscapes.
Andrew Wyeth (b. 1917) is one of the United States’ most popular artists, and his paintings follow the American Realist tradition, which includes Winslow Homer. He has been influenced by the works of Homer, whose watercolor technique he admires, as well as by the art of Howard Pyle and his father, N. C. While Andrew paints recognizable images, his use of line and space often imbue his works with an underlying abstract
quality. The exhibition includes important works from the 1970s and 1980s as well as recent paintings.
Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), like his father and grandfather, has painted subjects of everyday life, in particular the landscape, animals, and people of Pennsylvania and Maine. In contrast to his father—who paints with watercolor, drybrush, and tempera—Jamie works in oil and mixed media, creating lush painterly surfaces. Eighteen paintings represent all periods of his career.
The exhibition was made possible by the Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The sixty pieces are from the collection of the Wyeth family. The exhibition will showcase the discerning taste of this family and set out the links between different paintings.
The Mona Bismarck Foundation strives to contribute to Franco-American relations. The foundation sees art as means of promoting friendship, becoming closer and sharing a common artistic culture. An illustrated catalogue of the works from the Wyeth Collection will be available at the exhibition.
www.monabismarck.org
