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, as well as his shift towards American Regionalism and his adoption of elements of Modernism from the late 1920s through the mid-1930s. Among the exhibition highlights on view, Island Funeral, 1939, one of Wyeth’s most seminal and complex narrative paintings, represents the culmination of a protracted period of artistic experiment and invention.
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 roots 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.
Accompanying 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 reassessment of the remarkable breadth of this 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. The 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.
Exhibition Travel Dates:
The exhibition will travel to the Portland Museum of Art in Maine (October 4, 2019–January 12, 2020) and the Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati, Ohio (February 8, 2020–May 3, 2020) following its presentation at the Brandywine.