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October Issue 2004
Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, NC, Offers an Exhibit of Works by America's Foremost Realist Artist - Andrew Wyeth
One
of the most celebrated exhibitions of the work of a living American
artist is coming to The Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, NC. Andrew
Wyeth: The Helga Pictures concludes its national tour at the
Mint from Oct. 16 through Jan. 9, 2005.
This exhibition of 70 paintings, watercolors and drawings completed over a 14 year period combine to form a beautiful and poignant study of one woman. When first revealed to the public in a 1986 Time magazine article, The Helga Pictures became a sensation in the art world. The following year, the collection was exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC - the first time that museum had featured the work of a living artist. Since then, The Helga Pictures have been seen by millions of museum visitors at major museums in the United States and Japan.
The name Wyeth is synonymous with an American artistic dynasty. Born in 1917, Andrew is the youngest of five children. His father - artist and illustrator N.C. Wyeth - was known for his "blood-and-thunder," swashbuckling illustrations for Kidnapped, Robin Hood, The Last of the Mohicans and Robinson Crusoe. In marked contrast, Andrew Wyeth's watercolor and tempera landscapes and portraits are characterized by the quite and still qualities of his subjects. He has depicted paupers and Presidents, family and friends, neighbors and landscapes. But his Helga works may be Andrew Wyeth's greatest achievement in the last generation.
From 1971 to 1985, Wyeth created the approximately
240 works that record an intensive study of Helga Testorf. She
is a German immigrant whose family worked for Karl Kuener, the
Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania neighbor whom Wyeth made the subject
of many works during the 1960s and 1970s. Wyeth created his Helga
Pictures in nearly complete privacy without revealing to anyone
- even his own wife - the series' existence, the identity of the
model, or the extent of the project.
This exhaustive exploration of one subject is unprecedented in
American art. Wyeth drew and painted Helga clothed and nude, indoors
and outside in every season for over a decade. The volume of work
is characteristic in many ways of his approach toward a subject
of special interest - repeated, investigatory and diverse. In
his autobiography, Wyeth remarked that "Helga posed non-stop.
I'd get tired, but she'd say, 'Hey I'm not at all tired. Keep
going!' Choosing models is a chancy thing. You can be around a
model for months and nothing will happen, until suddenly you see
something and it works."
Wyeth's realism provides a window into his
deeply symbolic and spiritual realm. His 1948 painting ø
- depicting a young woman diminished in body but strong in spirit
- has become an American icon. In this famous work, he transformed
a simple rural setting into an evocative drama of longing and
isolation. ø (1979) depicting Helga facing away from the
artist and the viewer, gazing into an empty landscape, recalls
Christina's earlier strength and loneliness.
In the exhibition catalogue, Donald Kuspit comments about the
use of fertility symbols such as in ø (1973). Helga remarked
that these crowns are traditionally worn by German brides.
Andrew Wyeth: The Helga Pictures is being circulated by
International Arts & Artists under the auspices of Ann Kendall
Richards Nitze and Masami Shiraishi. The exhibition is sponsored
by Goodrich Corporation.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery
listings, call the Museum at 704/337-2000 or at (www.mintmuseum.org).
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