On Monday, March 10th, members of the Working Artists Forum (WAF) hosted a discussion at a packed house at the Academy Art Museum in Easton featuring Victoria Browning Wyeth. Victoria is the only grandchild of famed Andrew Wyeth, the great-granddaughter of illustrator N.C. Wyeth and niece of contemporary realist Jamie Wyeth. In addition to members of WAF, members of the St. Michael’s Art League attended.
Backed with a Master of Arts degree in psychology, and years of experience with the Farnsworth Art and Brandywine River Museums, Victoria conducted a discussion that was lively and informative. Her personal memories and family stories allowed those in attendance a unique insight into her grandfather and his life’s work.
Victoria wove a tapestry of her grandfather’s life and how and why he chose his subjects, while presenting photos of Wyeth’s style of magic realism in watercolor, dry brush (a watercolor style in which the water has been squeezed from the brush) and egg tempura. Her discussion centered largely on the paintings of women in his life- his wife, sisters and granddaughter, along with his favorite models.
As Wyeth aged, so did the people that he loved to paint. When he died, he was buried alongside Christina, the inspiration for “Christina’s World.” Christina was his neighbor, thirty years his senior, and crippled from polio. As Wyeth once explained, she “was limited physically but by no means spiritually.”
The Working Artists Forum is based in Easton and meets monthly at the Academy Art Museum.
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