A Legacy of Imagination, Nature, and
Art: The Wyeth Family
Imagine growing up in a house nestled in eighteen acres
of rolling land. Imagine the house is full of illustrations,
paintings, piano-playing, and toy inventions. Imagine
your father's studio contains a wealth of costumes of
pirates and soldiers, swords, helmets, and other props.
This is the environment in which painter Andrew Wyeth
grew up. This is the legacy that has been passed down
to Andrew Wyeth's son, Jamie
Wyeth.
The household of the Wyeth family, located in the Brandywine
Valley in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, was packed with creativity:
from the colorful works of Andrew Wyeth's father Newell
Convers to the paintings of sisters Carolyn and Henriette;
from the toy inventions of brother Nathaniel to the compositions
of the youngest sister, Ann. The youngest of the five
children, Andrew Wyeth grew up to become the most famous
artist in the Wyeth family, an artist whose paintings
can sell for several million dollars each.
N.C. Wyeth: Father, Illustrator,
Inspiration
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N.C. Wyeth
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Newell Convers Wyeth or N.C. Wyeth, brimming with exuberance
for nature, would go out for walks in the woods with his
children, excitedly pointing out the beauty of the full
moon or a nest of birds. This enthusiastic father would
often read aloud from classic children's tales, making
sure to assign specific voices to each character. At the
dinner table, various forms of art were regular topics
of conversation, from Beethoven
to Emerson,
Dickinson
to Rembrandt.
"It was the most imaginative, rich childhood you
could ever want. That is why I have so much inside of
me that I want to paint," Andrew Wyeth once stated.¹
N.C. Wyeth was born in 1882. He had studied at a competitive
school among other gifted young artists taught by the
famous American illustrator Howard
Pyle. The prestigious teacher and his students established
what became known as the Brandywine tradition, categorized
by art influenced by the history and countryside of the
Brandywine Valley—its stone houses and mills on fields
surrounded by wooded slopes and its historic battlefields.
In his lifetime, N.C. created over 3,000 works, including
illustrations for 112 books. Among his most well-known
and beloved are Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure
Island, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe,
and Robin Hood. His highly imaginative and technically
remarkable work impressed people across the nation, but
in Chadds Ford, many of the farmers living there were
impressed by another skill—his ability to transport
two full five—gallon cans of milk, one in each hand.
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N.C. Wyeth
"One more step, Mr. Hands," said I, "and
I'll blow your brains out" (1911)
Illustration, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson,
Scribner's first edition (1911) |
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Although he was and continues to be celebrated primarily
for his illustrations and is considered by some to be
the greatest American illustrator, N.C. had always wanted
to create his own paintings and not merely be an illustrator
for other's literary works. Unfortunately, a dreadful
car accident ended N.C. Wyeth's life tragically and abruptly
(along with his two-year old grandson) before he would
become satisfied with his artistic life.
After N.C.'s death, Andrew was even more inspired to
create serious art; and true to his desire, his works
post-1945 show more emotion. Andrew wrote in a letter
to a close friend, "I don't think any of us realized
how very great his early work was...Pa's great work was
painted between 1905 and 1925—we kids have got to
paint ... a lot better to reach his quality."²
Andrew Wyeth, Painting Rural
America
When Andrew was N.C.'s young student, he both feared
and idolized his father. N.C. at first criticized Andrew's
use of color and his subject matter. But later, it was
N.C. who would be awed by his son's work and widespread
acclaim.
Andrew Wyeth, one of the most famous American artists,
has been referred to as a representational
painter, a painter associated with Realism
and Naturalism,
of rural American life, and—to his critics—merely
an illustrator. But regardless of how Wyeth is labeled,
it cannot be denied that he created beautiful, masterful
paintings.
Wyeth's subjects tend to depict scenes in rural America,
including barns atop rolling hills, portraits of neighbors
surrounded by pasture. Often, his paintings have a somber
and nostalgic mood. Unlike his father, who worked mostly
in oil
paint, Andrew Wyeth liked to paint with egg
tempera.
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Andrew Wyeth
Her Room, 1963
Tempera on panel, 24¾" x 48"
Collection of Farnsworth Library and Art Museum
Copyright Andrew Wyeth
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One of Andrew Wyeth's biggest fans was his sister Carolyn.
In a 1979 interview with The Washington Post, Carolyn
stated "I admire nobody in America today. Except
my brother, Andrew Wyeth. Not because he's my brother.
He's a great artist. That's not sentimentality; that's
it." ³
A Family of Artists
Carolyn Wyeth, also a talented painter, studied with
her father for nineteen years. Like her father, Carolyn
was inspired by nature and the landscape of Chadds Ford,
resulting in reflective landscape paintings. Also a respected
teacher, Carolyn taught her young nephew Jamie Wyeth the
foundations of drawing before he apprenticed with his
father Andrew.
"In my family," said the oldest of the Wyeth
siblings Henriette Wyeth, "painting and drawing were
like bread and butter on the table-commonplace and wonderful."4
Henriette Wyeth's right hand was crippled by polio at
an early age, but that didn't stop her from joining her
family at the easel. She began painting at age seven,
using a technique that involved holding the brush between
her first and second fingers. She is most renowned for
her still life paintings and portraits,
particularly of children. She met her husband, Peter Hurd,
when he had come to Chadds Ford to study with N.C.
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Henriette Wyeth
Portrait of David, 1978
Oil paint on canvas, 32 1/2" x 28 1/2"
Bebe and Crosby Kemper Collection
Click image to visit The Kemper Collection online.
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But the Wyeths were not just a family of painters. Ann
Wyeth was an accomplished musician and composer. By the
time she was nineteen years old, one of her compositions,
entitled "A Christmas Fantasy," was performed
by the Philadelphia Orchestra and conducted by Leopold
Stokowski. N.C.'s older son, Nathaniel Wyeth, was
an inventor. He holds the patents for twenty-five inventions,
including the plastic
soda bottle people use today.
When Jamie Wyeth was born to the youngest of N.C.'s children,
Andrew Wyeth, and his wife Betsy James, it was no surprise
he would follow in his father's foot steps. By the time
he was 20 years old, he exhibited his first one-man show,
an impressive feat for any artist. Read more about Jamie
Wyeth on this informative biography.
Such a talented family would undoubtedly receive a lot
of attention. But not all of what is written about the
Wyeths has been positive. Works created by the painters
in the Wyeth family have been commonly criticized for
being merely illustrations with unoriginal and simple
narratives. What do you think about their work? Do you
see any similarities between the works of N.C., Andrew,
Henriette, and Jamie?
Of course growing up in a family of artists would influence
your art in various ways. But the individuality that each
Wyeth brings to his or her works cannot be overlooked.
Find out more about the Wyeth family on the Wyeth
Hurd Gallery and Brandywine
River Museum sites.
1 Richard Meryman. "The Wyeth Family:
American Visions." National Geographic. July 1991.
p. 93.
2 William E. Phelps papers, 1939-1979. Archives of American
Art/Smithsonian Institution. Reel 3589.
3 Paul Richard. "The Rebel in the First Family of
Art." The Washington Post. Jan. 11, 1979.
B13.
4 Richard Meryman. "The Wyeth Family: American Visions."
National Geographic. July 1991. p. 94.
