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The dramatic, vivid illustrations
of N.C., the quiet, introspective paintings of Andrew, and the
revealing portraits and mysterious allegories of Jamie have earned
members of the Wyeth family important places in the history of
American art. This summer The Speed Art Museum will present an
exhibition featuring the works of three generations of this compelling
family of artists.
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Andrew Wyeth (American,
born 1917)
Cape Coat, 1982, Drybrush |
At the heart of this
exhibition is a group of watercolor and tempera paintings and
pencil sketches by Andrew Wyeth depicting one of his favorite
models, Helga Testorf. Recognized as one of the leaders of the
realist tradition, Andrew Wyeth met Helga, a 38-year-old Prussian
immigrant, in his hometown of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania
in 1971. Working secretly over the next 15 years, Andrew created
approximately 45 paintings and 200 sketches of Helga, many of
which will be featured in the exhibition.
In addition to these
now-famous works by Andrew, Wyeth: Three Generations will feature
paintings by Andrew's father, noted illustrator N.C. Wyeth; Andrew's
son Jamie, an accomplished painter and illustrator in his own
right; and Andrew's sisters, Carolyn, Henriette, and Ann.
N.C. Wyeth developed a
naturalistic style that became a trademark of his paintings and
drawings. Over the course of hiscareer, he created dramatic illustrations
for some of America's leading journals, including Scribners
Magazine and Harper's Monthly Magazine, and for publications
of classic stories such as Treasure Island and The Last
of the Mohicans. Like other members of the Wyeth family, N.C.
was also drawn to subjects close to his own heart: home, family,
and the familiar sites of his hometown-a side of N.C. that will
also be represented in this exhibition .
Like their father and
their brother, Carolyn and Henriette Wyeth both worked in a realistic
manner, but developed distinctive styles. Carolyn was something
of a risk taker who experimented with color and composition, while
Henriette preferred traditional depictions of people and nature,
and Ann, a professional musician, expressed another side of her
creativity through watercolor. Jamie Wyeth continues the family
tradition of careful observation, selecting subjects related to
his homes off the coast of Maine and the Brandywine River Valley
region of Pennsylvania. Wyeth: Three Generations is the first
major museum exhibition to bring together works by all six of
these extraordinary artists. The viewer will be able to explore
the thread of continuity from one generation to the next-what
makes a Wyeth a Wyeth-while enjoying each artist's highly personal
interpretation of the world.
The 115 images in this
show remind us why Ansel Adams (1902-1984) is regarded as one
of this century's most influential and popular photographers.
Receiving the Presidential
Medal of Freedom in 1980, Adams was cited as someone who was "At
one with the power of the American Landscape, and renowned for
the patient skill and timeless beauty of his work . . ."
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Ansel Adams,
(American, 1902-1984)
Leaf, Glacier Bay National
Monument, Alaska, 1948
Gelatin Silver Print
copyright ©1998
by the Trustees of the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.
All rights reserved.
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Adams's interest in photography
began in 1916 when he traveled with his parents from his native
San Francisco to Yosemite National Park. He used his father's
box Brownie camera to take his first photographs in the park.
Ansel Adams, A Legacy:
Masterpieces from The Friends of Photography Collection contains
many of Adams's famous photographs such as Monolith, The Face
of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California (1972), and Moonrise,
Hernandez, New Mexico (1941).
All of the images in
this exhibit are prints made by Adams between the mid-1960s and
1980, a period when he worked primarily in the darkroom.
 Auguste
Rodin is regarded as one of the most important and most influential
sculptors of the 19th century. Emerging at a time when other
artists were working in a traditional, idealizing style, Rodin
revitalized the art of sculpture and made it a vehicle for intense
personal expression.
In addition, Rodin developed
a new sculptural vocabulary that influenced artists during his
lifetime and throughout the
20th century. Like
Michelangelo, Rodin created forms that appear to emerge from a
block of stone or
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Auguste
Rodin, (French, 1840-1917)
The Thinker
Bronze |
bronze. The surfaces of
his works were often rough and seemingly unfinished and he often
made no attempt to hide the process of sculpting, leaving seams
and other elements of bronze casting that most artists smoothed
away. He depicted the human form with a fierce naturalism and
presented his subjects in new and unexpected poses, often focusing
attention on the torso by omitting the head or limbs. By 1900,
Rodin had achieved the pinnacle of success: Eu1 up lr1 nobility
paid him tribute and an entire pavilion was devoted to his work
at the Paris World Exposition.
Over 65 examples of Rodin's
sculpture-including The Gates of Hell and The Kiss-will be featured
in Rodin: Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection
at The Speed Art Museum this fall.
Before his death in 1996
B. Gerald Cantor and his wife Iris assembled the world's most
comprehensive collection of sculpture by Auguste Rodin. Together,
the Cantors collected impressionist, postimpressionist, and expressionist
sculpture and paintings.
Today, the Rodins in
the Cantor collection number about 300. The Cantors or their foundation
have donated another 450.
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