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This is one of the signature paintings exhibited
last year in Where Two Worlds Meet, my Quaker and Indian themed show at
West Chester
University
. It depicts a father and son parting ways for the last
time. This painting also pays homage to N.C. Wyeth, the great painter and
illustrator of
Chester
County
in the early twentieth century and scion of a dynasty
of artists. Three generations of Wyeths have kept realism alive as a
serious topic of art, despite its often reported demise by art critics and
museum curators since the 1913 Armory Show in
New York
. As an art student in the late sixties, I was
explicitly forbidden to enjoy or even respect the accomplishments of the
Wyeth family by
New
York
critics and
intellectuals such as Clement Greenburg, Morse Peckham, and Henry
Geldzahler. A notable exception was Paul Sachs, who wrote admiringly of
Andrew Wyeth’s drawing of Becky King in his important book “Modern
Prints and Drawings” published in 1954. Today, realism seems to be
experiencing a significant comeback and may even be on the verge of a
renaissance. |
