Th is summer the Brandywine River Museum of Art will present
N. C. Wyeth: New Perspectives , the first exhibition in almost 50 years to
examine in depth the entirety of Wyeth’s multifaceted oeuvre . A formidable yet
often overlooked fig ure in the history of American art , N. C. Wyeth was the
foremost illustrator of his generation, and the patriarch of an extraordinary famil
y of artists . By re p ositioning Wyeth as a distinguished painter who worked
across the perceived divisions of visual culture in painting, illustration, mural
s and advertising, the exhibition offers new insights on Wyeth’s place within
the b road spectrum of early 20th - century visual arts .
Co - organized by
the Brandywine River Museum of Art and the Portland Museum of Art (PMA) , this
landmark exhibition , which will include approximately 70 paintings and
drawings selected from major museums and private collections , will be on view
at the Brandywine River Museum of Art from June 22 through September 15, 2019.
Well
known during the 20th century for his bold, imaginative illustrations that
brought new characterizations to classic stories such as Treasure Island , The
Boy’s King Arthur and Th e Last of t he Mohicans , N. C. Wyeth was a prolific
artist who vigorously pursued parallel interests in painting landscapes,
seascapes, portraits, still lifes and murals throughout his career. A master of
many styles and a brilliant colorist, Wyeth employed the skills honed in the
work he produced for publishers to explore and address various thematic and
stylistic currents running through the first five decades of the 20 t h century.
Wyeth’s nuanced grasp of how to create emotional power through composition
and light effects was not only influential, but also established a certain
visual standard for dramatic imagery. The exhibition will feature the iconic paintings
Wyeth created to illustrate books and magazine stories , as well as the
remarkable landscapes and figurative works of art that have , up until now , garnered
less attention . They include examples of his experimentation with
Impressionism during the 1910s and 20s , a s well as his shift towards American
Regionalism and his adoption of elements of Modernism from the late 1920s
through the mid - 1930s .
N.
C. Wyeth (1882 – 1945), Island Funeral , 1939 , egg tempera and oil on
hardboard, 44 1/2 x 52 3/8 in. Brandywine River Museum of Art gift of E. I.
du Pont de Nemours and Company in honor of the 50 th anniversary of the Brandywine
Conservancy & Museum of Art , 2017
Among the exhibition highlights on view, Island Funeral
, 1939, one of Wyeth’s most seminal and complex narrative paintings , represent
s the culmination of a protracted period of artistic experiment and invention.
N. C. Wyeth
(1882-1945), Dark Harbor Fishermen, 1943, tempera on hardboard
(Renaissance Panel), 35 x 38”. Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine.
N. C. Wyeth (1882-1945), Ridge Church, 1936, oil on canvas, 36 x 40 1/8 in. Collection of Linda L. Bean
N. C. Wyeth (1882-1945), Tapping up and down the road in a frenzy, and groping and calling for his comrades, 1911, oil on canvas, 47 x 38". The Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection
N. C. Wyeth (1882-1945), Saturday Evening Post, cover (Bucking Bronco), 1903, oil on canvas on hardboard, 27 1/2 x 19 1/2 in. Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles
N. C. Wyeth (1882-1945), The Harbor at Herring Gut, 1925, oil on canvas, 43 x 48 1/8 in. The Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collectio
The
Brandywine is the first of three national venues for this exhibition , and visitors
coming to Chadds Ford have a unique opportunity to further immerse themselves in
both Wyeth’s work and life. N. C. Wyeth’s own home and studio — a National
Historic Landmark and the locus of r oots which have nourished a family of
extraordinary creativity for more than a century — are owned by Brandywine and open
for public tours daily. Wyeth’s majestic studio, with its spectacular Palladian
- style north window , is much as the artist left it at his untimely death in
1945.
Exhibition Catalogue
The catalogue accompanying N. C.
Wyeth: New Perspectives — co - published by Yale University Press, the
Brandywine River Museum of Art and the Portland Museum of Art — includes scholarly
essays which examine multiple aspects of Wyeth’s life and work, providing a
long overdue re assessment of the remarkable breadth of t his complex , and often
misunderstood artist .
The authors include D. B. Dowd, Professor of Design and
American Culture Studies at Washington University, St. Louis; David M. Lubin,
Charlotte C. Weber Professor of Art at Wake Forest University; Kristine Ronan and
Karen Zukowski, both independent scholars. T he exhibition ’s co - curators,
Christine Podmaniczky , Curator of N. C. Wyeth Collections and Historic
Properties at the Brandywine River Museum of Art, and Jessica May , Deputy
Director and Robert and Elizabeth Nanovic Chief Curator at the Portland Museum
of Art, are also contributors.
