Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Andrew Wyeth at the Palm Springs Art Museum

"The only virtue to it is to put down an idea quickly without thought about what you feel at the moment. It's one's free side. Watercolor shouldn't behave.”
-Andrew Wyeth

Palm Springs Art Museum is winding up its long exhibition "Andrew Wyeth in Perspective." About 30 paintings filled the walls, including a few from the "Helga" series. I was thrilled to see many of Wyeth's graphite sketches in the show. Once again, as I walked through the show, I admired his subtlety, his attention to fine details, his sense of value, and the overall loneliness of his subjects.

When Wyeth died in 2009, I wrote this blog post and painted this piece as a remembrance. My reference is the servants' staircase at the Bidwell Mansion in Chico, CA.

Missing Andrew, 18 x 12, pastel

8 comments:

Art Matters said...

I love the stillness in this painting.

Casey Klahn said...

Because I am struggling with an interior (I think it is working out) I am very taken by this image.

You knocked it out of the park!

I had a weird experience the week after he died. I saw a scene in Spokane out the car window that spoke, "Wyeth is here." It was just one of those image associations, but very strong.

How is the catalog for this exhibit?

SamArtDog said...

Wonderful value range here. And as still and lonely as Wyeth's work.

Katherine van Schoonhoven said...

Carol -- thanks for stopping in a commenting!

Katherine van Schoonhoven said...

Casey! I flipped through the catalog but didn't buy because I already have two big books on Wyeth. Great to see your barn interior, too!

Katherine van Schoonhoven said...

Sam: nice to hear that I met the goal. "Still" is a good Wyeth word.

Jala Pfaff said...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this!!!

Dewberry Fine Art said...

Oh now I love this Katherine. Kinda like the road you are doing. Such a quiet and curious painting. I want to climb those stairs.