A Window into Andrew Wyeth’s World
A recurring pattern you might see in Andrew Wyeth’s temperas and watercolors is his use of light from windows and window structures.
Whether it is a literal depiction of a window or light pouring over a figure’s face or body, Andrew successfully used windows in his paintings to create light that no other artist in the 20th century was truly able to capture.
The Brandywine River Museum is also filled with light and windows. The gallery where Andrew’s works are displayed is adjacent to the third floor lobby which has floor to ceiling windows so that natural light can filter through the museum; just the way Andrew would have wanted it.
Below is a detail from the painting, Tree House Study, 1982 depicting the front of the Kuerners’ farmhouse, which is located a little more than a mile from the Brandywine River Museum.
Although Wyeth did not depict light pouring inside from these windows, in this painting we see the farmhouse’s exterior windows being used to mark the shadows from a huge evergreen tree. One can only imagine the effect of bright sun and deep shade on the interior sides of these windows. I was actually able to take a real life photo of the window that is located on the front porch of the Kuerner farmhouse. It is also interesting to note that in different compositions of the same structure, Andrew Wyeth would move the farmhouse windows, eliminate them, or focus on them, depending on the particular composition. In Tree House Study, is the focus on the windows, the shadows from the tree, or the farmhouse itself?
Andrew’s use of light is so realistic and plays such a significant role in all of his paintings. The fact that he used windows in a number of the current works on display in the Andrew Wyeth Gallery, goes to show how essential this motif was for the artist. Whether he was depicting his father’s (N.C. Wyeth) studio, his own studio, or the Kuerner farm, windows and, more importantly, the natural light that came in through the windows greatly influenced many of his paintings.
