Andrew Wyeth passed away today. He's one of my big three artists/illustrators with Rockwell and JC Leyendecker. Wyeth is most famous of course for Christina's World which showed a handicapped woman sitting on the ground looking off into the distance at an old wooden house. I can't quite say if that painting was the reason I discoverd Wyeth as a teenager, but I would scoop up any book on him at the school or local library and spend hours looking at his paintings. I think what attracted me was the way he made ordinary things like trees, dirt, walls, etc. look amazingly interesting. He didn't need dramatic cityscapes or beautiful models to create his paintings. The people in his paintings looked worn, tired and too busy to pose for a painting. Andrew gained some recognition within the last decade or two for his Helga series of paintings, though I much preferred his earlier work.
I also remember how he painted with egg tempera, which for me seemed quite foreign compared to the more common oil and acrylic paints that we all more used to. The process of mixing the paints and layering the brush strokes and washed always seemed far too much work for me, though I marveled in his final image.
His father NC Wyeth was tragically killed in a car-train accident I recall when he was in his prime. NC was a famous illustrator who did great work on classics such as Treasure Island and similar novels.
I was happy to see sight of him late last year on the news receiving his National Medal of Arts. Hopefully his death will get some notice by the media outlets and his influence and impact won't be lost.
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