Christina's World: Andrew Wyeth.Looking Carefully Christina's World Christina's World is the most famous work by American painter Andrew Wyeth, and one of the best-known American paintings of the 20th century. Painted in 1948, this tempera work is displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. , Andrew Wyeth's best-known painting, is a portrait of his friend Christina Olson. On his twenty-second birthday, Wyeth met his future wife, Betsy James, a summer resident of Maine, and a longtime friend of Christina's. Because Wyeth had come to Maine to paint, Betsy took him to see a house she had always admired the Olson farmhouse. The Olsons let Wyeth wander over the farm and through their house as he wished. He soon spent summers painting there, using some of the upstairs rooms as a studio. This was the beginning of a friendship with Christina Olson which lasted for more than twenty years TWENTY YEARS. The lapse of twenty years raises a presumption of certain facts, and after such a time, the party against whom the presumption has been raised, will be required to prove a negative to establish his rights. 2. . The idea for Christina's World came to Wyeth one day when he looked out of an upper-story window of the farmhouse and saw Christina out in the field pulling herself toward the house with her arms. There is a beautiful quietness and serenity in this composition. The large area of the field may, at first, project sameness. But on closer examination, the delicate, textural details of the golden-brown grass are reminiscent of the quiet subtlety of an Oriental print. A graceful balance is achieved as Christina's frail body leans upward toward the house and barn on the crest of the hill. Large areas are balanced with smaller accents. The clear, gray sky adds to the pervasive mood of the painting. Note how the direction of the grasses leads your eye into the painting which is stabilized by the triangular composition of the figure and the two farm buildings. The repetition of curved forms in field and figure soften the composition. Because of her frail body, Christina is often thought to be a young girl, but she was fifty years old at the time of this painting. Knowing that she must pull herself along with her arms up the hill and through the tall grass to return to the house, do we perceive the painting differently? Do we suddenly see the world through Christina's eyes? How long might it take Christina to get to the house? How long might it take to walk that distance? In 1949, Christina's World was sold to The Museum of Modern Art in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . Wyeth continued to paint Christina until 1967. She died in January of 1968. On the day Christina was buried on the family farm, Wyeth sketched the rows of tombstones tombstones a cellular phenomenon in pemphigus vulgaris; rows of basal cells of the epidermis remain attached to the basal membrane, reminiscent of rows of tombstones. in the family cemetery, but after her death, the Olson farm held no emotional attachment for Wyeth. He did not paint there again. Comparing Throughout his career, Wyeth has maintained a style of portraiture portraiture, the art of representing the physical or psychological likeness of a real or imaginary individual. The principal portrait media are painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography. From earliest times the portrait has been considered a means to immortality. that is realistic and expressive. Although his compositions may vary greatly, his careful attention to texture, detail and mood remains constant. Siri, shown here, was painted in 1970, 22 years after Christina's World. How do the paintings reflect the different eras in which they were painted? How are their moods similar? Note the repetition of geometric shapes This is a list of geometric shapes. Generally composed of straight line segments
A-line - women's clothing that has a fitted top and a flared skirt that is widest at the hemline; "it is called the A-line because the effect resembles the capital letter A" . Imagine this portrait without its background. Although it may appear plain at first, its neutral color and orderliness contribute to the serene mood of the portrait, and its repeated shapes add balance and interest to the composition. There is an element of mystery in both portraits that draws a viewer into the paintings. What does Christina look like? What is her life like? Who might the woman in Siri be? Is Siri her name? What might her world be like? Key Concepts * The quality of natural or artificial light affects the colors we perceive. * Artists may use color to create moods of excitement or calmness. * The composition of a painting is based on relationships of the shapes and forms in the painting. * An artist may use various principles of art--i.e., balance, variety, unity--in a composition to convey something about the subject of the work. * An artist may create a composition which is very different from the original inspiration to convey personal interpretations of the subject. * Understanding and appreciating a work of art depends upon the viewer's personal experience and knowledge. Andrew Wyeth Andrew Wyeth was born in Chadd's Ford, Pennsylvania in 1917. He had little formal schooling and studied art with his artist father, N.C. (Newell Convers) Wyeth, who was a well-known book illustrator and mural mural Painting applied to and made integral with the surface of a wall or ceiling. Its roots can be found in the universal desire that led prehistoric peoples to create cave paintings—the desire to decorate their surroundings and express their ideas and beliefs. painter. Wyeth gained his first general recognition in 1948 when Christina's World was exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. He continued to paint in his own precise, very realistic style rather than adopting the artistic style of abstract expressionism abstract expressionism, movement of abstract painting that emerged in New York City during the mid-1940s and attained singular prominence in American art in the following decade; also called action painting and the New York school. which dominated the fifties. His paintings reveal an intensely personal and sometimes lonely point of view. The surface texture is hauntingly delicate yet powerful in mood. Wyeth worked in watercolor as well as the very traditional method of egg tempera tempera (tĕm`pərə), painting method in which finely ground pigment is mixed with a solidifying base such as albumen, fig sap, or thin glue. . Especially notable are the special effects special effects, in motion pictures, cinematographic techniques that create illusions in the audience's minds as well as the illusions created using these techniques. achieved with his dry-brush technique. Wyeth's unique style has spawned divergent opinions about his art. Some see Wyeth as a great master painter. Others view his work as regional and even banal. The recent emergence of the many paintings of "Helga" augmented the discussion and controversy of Wyeth's work and his place in American art American art, the art of the North American colonies and of the United States. There are separate articles on American architecture, North American Native art, pre-Columbian art and architecture, Mexican art and architecture, Spanish colonial art and architecture, . Despite this controversy, Wyeth is established as one of America's foremost living artists. Suggested Activities * Ask the students to imagine they are outdoors. Encourage them to think about the differences between outdoors and indoors. Do they feel differently when outdoors? How? Why? Do things look different outdoors? How? Why? Outdoor light is very different from indoor light. How is it different? Why is it different? How are colors affected by the difference in light? Ask students how Wyeth has shown this special outdoor light on the earth, the buildings, and the figure of Christina. Ask them to look at the colors of their own clothing, then walk to the window or out side and see if the colors look different. How are they different? * Wyeth has created a very special mood in this painting. Ask the students why they think he created this mood. How do they think the mood of the artist's friend is created in this painting? Ask the students to think of a special friend. What colors seem to relate to the general mood of that friend? How does the sky affect the mood in Wyeth's painting? Why did Wyeth use so much of the painting's area for the field? Ask students to create watercolor paintings watercolor painting, in its wider sense, refers to all pigments mixed with water rather than with oil and also to the paintings produced by this process; it includes fresco and tempera as well as aquarelle, the process now commonly meant by the generic term. with washes and dry-brush techniques to create large, quiet areas with textural detail, using Wyeth's field as their inspiration. * Wyeth has created a simple yet powerful composition. Many principles of art The principles of art are a set of rules or guidelines to keep in mind when considering the impact of a piece of artwork. They are combined with the elements of art in the production of art. are at work here. They are sometimes as subtle as his mood. Ask students to create, without objective images, a collage collage (kəläzh`, kō–) [Fr.,=pasting], technique in art consisting of cutting and pasting natural or manufactured materials to a painted or unpainted surface—hence, a work of art in this medium. of colors not of the white race; - commonly meaning, esp. in the United States, of negro blood, pure or mixed. See also: Color which reveal the mood of a special friend. Ask students to consider the following in Wyeth's objective composition and in their own nonobjective compositions: Unity. Squint squint: see strabismus. your eyes and look at Wyeth's painting. You will see three darker areas (Christina's hair, the house and the barn) which form a triangle. These pull the composition together to unify it. Try to use this principle in your composition. Balance. Notice how Wyeth balances the horizontal movement with the vertical sweep of Christina's figure. Try to balance verticals and horizontals in your composition. Focus. Notice the main focus and the secondary focus in Wyeth's painting. The size, position and different color of Christina lead your eyes to her first. The house is a secondary focus because of its value contrast and its position in relation to the angular axis of Christina's figure. Try to create a primary and a secondary focus in your composition. References Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth: Kuerners and Olsons. Eds. Katherine Stoddert and Joan K. Holt. New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1976. Video: "The Real World of Andrew Wyeth." Films For the Humanities, P.O. Box 2053, Princeton, NJ 08540. H. T. Niceley is a member of the department of art, Carson Newman College Newman College may refer to:
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