Andrew Wyeth

I thought I should share with you one of my favourite artists of all time named Andrew Wyeth. Even though he is seen as a realist painter, there is something much deeper and profound in his creations, just like the affect that abstract art can have on a viewer. There are underlying issues throughout most of his work that deal with rural living and social issues, especially when analyzing the continual theme of man versus nature. His paintings are seen as a reflection of what America is to most people, but it makes one question what exactly makes it American and if his portraits and paintings of landscapes are accurate to what America is as a whole. Even though he is seen as being one of the greatest artists of the past century, it was unfortunately difficult to recognize by many critics when he first appeared in the industry with his more traditional take on art, only because he emerged when Pop Art was in the spotlight. Wyeth was not only known for his skill for using the tempera painting and his grand influence from nature and the loved ones surrounding him, but also for his eye of shadowing. What helped him create and master his love for shadowing was the tempera paint that made his paintings unbelievably detailed and made his paintings so realistic to the point where they could easily be mistaken for a photographic image. His father opened his eyes to a whole knew world where beauty can be seen in all regards and Wyeth became a true romantic in that he understood the love a man could have for nature. His works contained much deeper levels of thought, consideration, and symbolism than just a painting of a landscape or a portrait. There was a reason for what parts of either a landscape or of a body he decided to paint; he wanted the viewer to purposefully focus on certain areas of what he was painting. Wyeth wanted the viewer to capture the same senses that he was feeling when painting and wanted his creations to be an experience that would hopefully reach into the more natural side of the viewers existence. He wanted you to feel serene and boost your creativity and imagination like you were a child again playing in nature. However, he most importantly wanted to the viewer to keep guessing when analyzing his painting to wander through the canvas and ask questions. For example, if Wyeth were to do a portrait of someone he would never make the model look directly at him, but instead wanted them to look away at something in the distance, to make us wonder what they were looking at and what there was in that present moment when he was painting that we cannot see.






Most of these painting were taken artnet.com