Thursday, April 16, 2015

Winter 1946 - An Implication of Assurance and Tradition?

In 1977, art historian Robert Rosenblum named Andrew Wyeth as the most overrated and underrated artist of the 20th century (Adams). Andrew Wyeth, one of America’s most well-known 20th century artists, caused debate within the art world. Some believe he was a realist painter, while others say that he worked in a regionalist style. The North Carolina Museum of Art puts Andrew Wyeth’s "Winter 1946" painting into their modern collection, although many art critics believe this painting completely opposed images produced by 20th century avant-garde artists. "Winter 1946" was contradictory to the work of other artists’ in Wyeth’s time because while most modern artists attempted to question what were then socially accepted values by pushing for innovation and change within society, Wyeth accepted the current state of society and enjoyed being part of the middle-class. In "Winter 1946," Andrew Wyeth combines the traditional, small-town values of his father and his hometown of Chadds Ford, PA along with his own interpretation of modern art through realism and regionalism.

Andrew Wyeth’s childhood is a contributing factor to why his work in "Winter 1946" differed from artists around him. Wyeth has stood out from others around him ever since he was around his siblings. His oldest sibling, Henriette, became a still life and portrait artist. His brother Nathanial became a mechanical engineer, while his other two siblings, Ann and Carolyn, became a musician/composer and a painter, respectively. Wyeth, on the other hand, was born with a bad hip and feet that pointed outward when he walked. Due to his physical limitations, he was homeschooled by a series of tutors and spent his free time making drawings, exploring the woods with friends, playing with toy soldiers, and dressing up in costumes that his father used as an aid in his illustrations (Adams). While his father, N.C., encouraged his children to develop their talents and specialize their careers accordingly, Wyeth lived much more of a “traditional” childhood.

Andrew Wyeth differed not only from his siblings, but his father as well. N.C. was known for his high energy and large stature, while Wyeth was a small, delicate boy plagued with many childhood illnesses (Kimmelman). N.C. still treated Wyeth just like his siblings, however. This caused Wyeth to grow close to N.C., and he learned a lot from both his father and the tutors he met with while being homeschooled.

N.C.’s teachings to Wyeth were mostly art-related. N.C. was a cartoonist who used highly intense and energetic colors throughout his artworks. Although Wyeth intended to match his father’s intensity in his artwork as well, he pictured things differently. N.C.’s photos were action-packed, drama-filled, and included people, while Wyeth’s work usually had no people in it. Wyeth’s works were often snowy landscapes, barns, tire tracks, abandoned houses, and empty fields (Kimmelman). One example of a painting that one could expect from Andrew Wyeth is the one below (Sunday Times), which was competed by Wyeth in 1987. Although N.C. was Wyeth’s primary mentor, Wyeth still decided to branch away from some of the things that N.C. taught him.

"Sunday Times," 1987, Andrew Newell Wyeth, watercolor on paper  
One of Wyeth’s most famous pieces, "Winter 1946," is an example of the contradiction he faced when publishing his work. Since Wyeth received most of his art instruction from his father and grew very close to him, he was devastated by his father’s death in 1945. N.C. was driving in the car with his grandson in Chadds Ford, PA, when the car somehow stalled on railroad tracks. A mail train drove right into the car, killing N.C. from a broken neck and hospitalizing his grandson, Newell. Wyeth says his father’s death gave him an “emotional reason” to paint, and "Winter 1946" was the first painting he completed since his father’s death (Adams). This painting is fairly simple and could be classified as either realism or regionalism. Realism is artwork which portrays actual life events without exaggerating the setting, while regionalism is an art style in which the artist focuses more on rural life and ignores the city and/or technology. Here, we can see a boy running down a hill, dressed in winter clothes with his left hand out. Contrary to the vast majority of his works, Wyeth decided to include a person in "Winter 1946" because the boy painted here serves as a tribute to his father. Wyeth later told his biographer and close non-family friend, Richard Meryman, that the boy was Allan Lynch, a local boy he saw running down the hill when he went back to visit the scene of his father’s death. Wyeth decided to join Allan, and the two rolled down the hill in an old baby carriage they found nearby. Wyeth told Meryman that this incident is what inspired "Winter 1946" (Adams). The fact that Wyeth painted "Winter 1946" based off of an actual event in his life at the actual scene of his father’s death shows the realism that this painting incorporates, and the fact that the setting used here is in an open field by the train tracks away from the city allows the viewer of this painting to classify "Winter 1946" under regionalism as well. 

"Winter 1946," 1946, Andrew Newell Wyeth, tempera on board
In this photo (above), Lynch (the boy pictured) is turning away from his shadow - something that will always be a part of him, symbolizing Wyeth losing his father. Wyeth told Meryman, “The boy was me at a loss, really … His hand, drifting in the air, was my hand, groping, my free soul” (Adams). This makes sense because at first glance, one may wonder why Allan’s hand is out on what appears to be a cold day. Although the skid marks located at the bottom left hand of the painting stem from the baby carriage in which Wyeth and Allan rolled down in, they really symbolize the train tracks on which N.C.’s car stalled. If we imagine the boy in this painting to be Wyeth instead of Allan, we can see that he is looking at these marks in the grass with disgust, and in a way, walking away from the tracks, or the death scene.

The simplicity of "Winter 1946" is another point of significance since most artists in the 20th century used complex abstraction in their artwork, compared to the realism and regionalism exemplified by Wyeth here. Wyeth once said, “I think the great weakness in most of my work is subject matter. There’s too much of it” (Kimmelman). When Wyeth refers to “subject matter,” he means what he wants his audience to focus on. Although "Winter 1946" is a fairly simple painting (a boy running down a dormant hill with a fence and grass on the side), there’s a lot that Wyeth wants his viewers to focus on here. The death of Wyeth’s father, the spotting of Allan Lynch, and the experience Wyeth and Allan had together are all experiences involving contrasting emotions that are all somehow crammed into one painting. Michael Kimmelman of the New York Times states that Wyeth produced “images of absence, silence, loss, abandonment, desolation but also expectation.” The realism Wyeth uses in "Winter 1946" helps draw his audience in, while the isolated setting that comes from regionalism allows for the audience to feel like there is something more to this painting. While most 20th century artists used complexity to show high amounts of subject matter present in their work, Wyeth was able to go one step further by presenting all of his subject matter through simplicity.

Wyeth’s ability to “keep it simple” in his paintings was something other artists did not do at this time, and understanding the context behind "Winter 1946" helps us see how Wyeth valued family dearly throughout his life, which is common for middle-class Americans. The use of Allan Lynch in this painting also shows that Wyeth is a traditional middle-class citizen who feels comfortable with his hometown.

Another thing to take note of is the medium that Andrew Wyeth used to create this piece. When Wyeth first started to learn from his father, he used watercolor, a medium his father recommended. By 1938, Wyeth started primarily working with tempera, which is egg yolk mixed with paint. Wyeth produced "Winter 1946" with tempera, and said that he stopped using watercolor because it was too shallow (Adams). The thing that is most striking about tempera is that it’s a medium that was most popular leading up to the Renaissance art movement, which started back in Italy in the early 1300’s! Tempera is difficult to work with due to its fast drying time, and was replaced by oil paint in the Renaissance art movement. Tempera paint usually tends to create colors that are more along the dull side, as it is harder to show contrasts in the lights versus the darks when comparing it to oil paint. The lack of color contrast in "Winter 1946" not only gives off the impression that it is winter time, but also helps the viewer see the regionalism portrayed by this piece. It truly does feel like this painting takes place in an isolated setting, and to think that Wyeth stopped using watercolor, a medium proposed by his greatest teacher, his father, and switched to tempera, an extremely old-fashioned medium, once again shows the value that Wyeth puts on tradition.

Wyeth put an incredible amount of realist emphasis into "Winter 1946" as well. We can see things such as Allan’s shadow, the color texture on Allan’s jacket buttons, and the lighting on his face compared to his hand. One of the most shockingly realistic parts of this piece is the grass and fence drawn on the left-hand side. We can see each blade of grass drawn at an angle, allowing us to feel the wind present on this day. The wooden fence poles are shaded in a manner that shows the sun shining from the left of them, and this can also be proven by the shadows of the wooden posts. The amount of realism that Wyeth used here is shocking because abstraction in art was becoming very popular in America in the mid to late 1940s, and "Winter 1946" was finished and released in 1946, right at the peak of American abstraction (below is an image from the NC Art Museum’s modern collection that was released shortly after "Winter 1946") (Kimmelman). This was a courageous move from Wyeth, once again emphasizing his value put on tradition. 

"Berkeley No. 8," 1954, Richard Diebenkorn, oil on canvas
Stephanie Dudek from Canadian Psychology makes the claim that modern art stemmed from avant-garde artists, which would imply that 20th century art was filled with avant-garde artists. She defines avant-garde artists as those who work from a position of isolation while striving to express things they have experienced as "their life world." One example of an avant-garde artist Dudek uses is Picasso, stating, “Picasso's cubist images called attention to the dislocation of body and spirit in response to a radically changed life world” (105). Avant-garde artists are also known for producing pieces of art that are unusual but innovative. Applying all of these definitions to the 20th century “modern artist” and considering Andrew Wyeth’s painting, "Winter 1946", isn’t it safe to say that Andrew Wyeth falls under the category of an avant-garde artist, even if "Winter 1946" doesn’t fit the stereotypical modern art image? "Winter 1946" was a perfect example of Wyeth attempting to express his father’s death, an experience he went through in his own “life world.” Wyeth once said, “I paint the things I know best,” and that definitely holds true in this painting through his use of the hill by the train tracks and Allan Lynch, a boy from his hometown of Chadds Ford (Adams). Another famous quote from Wyeth was, “What you have to do is break all the rules” (Kimmelman). Wyeth broke the rules with "Winter 1946" by sticking to realism, regionalism, and using tempera, while other artists around him were pushing for abstraction and using watercolor.

Wyeth’s work in "Winter 1946" is a wonderful representation of the adversity he faced throughout his life, especially in his younger years. Wyeth is a charming example of a typical middle-class American citizen, and understanding the relationship he had with his father reinforces this idea. Although some may not understand why "Winter 1946" is considered modern art, it truly is the perfect example of avant-garde. Wyeth’s use of realism and simplicity in "Winter 1946" serves as its own type of abstraction, and his value put on family and hometown are portrayed through the subject matter of this painting. His use of tempera as a medium shows that he is one who feels comfortable sticking to a traditional lifestyle, which is why "Winter 1946" helps us understand the overlooked importance of accepting and enjoying the current state of society around us today.



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