Andrew Wyeth: Close Friends

Generally regarded as "America's Painter", realist Andrew Wyeth is perhaps the best known of the artistic Wyeth family dynasty which includes his father N. C. Wyeth, sister Henriette Hurd, and son Jamie Wyeth. Although most recent explorations of this artist have focused on his family and on the Helga pictures, this unique publication chronicles seven decades of an under-appreciated yet historically relevant aspect of his relationship to home and community. Andrew Wyeth: Close Friends is the first critical look at a significant body of paintings and works on paper depicting Wyeth's African American friends and neighbors in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, a quaint village on the Brandywine River where he has lived since birth.Beginning in the 1930s, many of Wyeth's African American neighbors served as his models both in and out of the studio. Images of more than 20 individuals are included, as well as depictions of their homes, farms, and meeting places. Wyeth's own words annotate the reproductions of his paintings and drawings and offer a rare glimpse into the mind of this truly individual artist. In her brief introduction, the artist's wife and collaborator, Betsy James Wyeth, recounts her arrival in Chadds Ford as a young bride and her immediate connection to the community she found there.Andrew Wyeth: Close Friends includes over 100 color reproductions of major tempera and watercolor paintings and numerous black and white images of graphite drawings. Works reproduced are drawn from public and private collections, with a large number from the personal collection of the Wyeths. In addition to a foreword by museum director R. Andrew Maass, the book includes family photographs andfacsimiles of personal correspondence.