Christina's World

Andrew Wyeth was born July 12, 1917 in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. The youngest of five children, Andrew was a sickly child who had to be pulled out of school after contracting whooping cough. He was home-schooled by his parents in every subject including art education. His father, Newel Convers Wyeth, was a well known illustrator whose art was featured in many magazines, calendars, posters and murals. Andrew had a vivid memory and fantastic imagination that led to a great fascination for art. His father recognized an obvious raw talent that had to be nurtured. While his father taught him the basics of traditional academic drawing Andrew began painting watercolor studies of the rocky coast and the sea in Port Clyde Maine. He worked primarily in watercolors and egg tempera and often used shades of brown and grey. He held his first one-man show of watercolors painted around the family’s summer home at Port Clyde, Maine in 1937. It was a great success that would lead to many more. Wyeth married Betsey James at the age of twenty-two and had two boys, Nicholas who became an art dealer, and James who became the third generation artist in his family. Andrew was featured on the cover of American Artist as well as many other famous magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post that displayed his painting "The Hunter". His first solo museum exhibition was presented in 1951 at the Farnsworth Art Museum. Since then he has seen many more successes and is considered one of the most "collectible" living artist’s of our time.