The Wyeth Family: Three Generations of American Art
Works from the Bank of America Collection
9 June – 22 August 2010
“A wonderfully evocative show” The
Times
“The Clint Eastwood of American
Painters”
The Guardian
N C Wyeth (1882-1945) was one of America’s finest illustrators,
best known for his outstanding book illustrations of Treasure
Island, The Boy's King Arthur and Robinson
Crusoe. His illustrations in oils are magnificent, lush,
technically brilliant examples of imaginative story-telling, and he
painted some lovely landscapes as well. He taught not only his
students but also three of his children and two sons-in-law to
paint, in his studio in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.
Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009), the youngest son of
N. C. Wyeth, is the best known artist in the family. Andrew was
particularly close to his father and began studying with him at an
early age. At his death in January 2009, he was regarded as
America’s finest realist painter – he was certainly the most
famous, hugely popular with the public but dividing the
critics.
James Browning Wyeth (1946-) is Andrew Wyeth’s
son. He showed remarkable talent and gained great recognition very
early in life. He had his first exhibition at the age of twenty,
and has carried on the family tradition with his own brilliant
career. His work has its own colourful personality, but there are
clear links with that of his father and grandfather.
Henriette Wyeth (1907-1997) was N. C. Wyeth's
first child and is considered by many to be one of the great women
painters of the 20th century. After the age of 30 she moved to New
Mexico with her husband, Peter Hurd. Her distinguished career as a
portraitist includes such well-known subjects as First Lady Pat
Nixon, actress Helen Hayes and author Paul Horgan.