Nov 13, 2019 — Mar 8, 2020
Andrew Wyeth (1917 - 2009), regarded as one of the most important American artists of the 20th century, launched his career in 1937 with a sold-out exhibition of his watercolors in New York. On the occasion of the young artist’s remarkable debut, his father and mentor, noted illustrator N.C. Wyeth wrote him a congratulatory letter prophesying, “You are headed in the direction that should finally reach the pinnacle in American art.”
Wyeth’s subjects focused on two locations: Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, his birthplace, and Cushing, Maine, his second home since childhood. Drawing inspiration from the distinctive characteristics of these locations, he revealed universal attributes in his depictions of landscapes, objects, and people. The Museum’s collection emphasizes Wyeth’s preference for painting intimate subjects, including his family, his homes, his memories, and his favorite models. He once said, “I am an illustrator of my own life.”
Greenville’s Andrew Wyeth collection encompasses the full scope of the artist’s extraordinary career, including significant decade-by-decade examples, from the 1930s to the 21st century. Wyeth himself described it as “the very best collection of my watercolors in any public museum in this country.”
Andrew Wyeth: Eight Decades features more than thirty of the artists work, arranged chronologically, allowing viewers to see how Wyeth revisited themes and subjects across his long and prolific career.