Day Trip to Philadelphia

We went to see the large exhibit of Andrew Wyeth paintings at the Museum of Art. It had been there since April, but this was its final weekend.

We had seen Wyeth of course many times before, both at special exhibitions here, and at the Brandywine Museum at Chadd's Ford. We especially liked a smaller exhibit of his paintings of an African American friend which was shown here a couple of years ago. But we hoped for more from this one.

The exhibit was certainly interesting, and you have to admire Wyeth's technique. Whether his subject matter is generally of interest is, to me, something else, as well as whether his work shows any large changes or growth over the years. Wyeth is going to turn 90 next year, and as far as I know he is still painting. So much for the sickly child he apparently used to be.

I thought that the exhibit was arranged very interestingly. Each room was a different topic. So, there would be a room devoted to portraits, and a room devoted to nature, and so forth. And many of the paintings were "paired", one of the 40's, say, with one of the 80's. This was to show continuity.

Is Wyeth a realist? Not entirely, although his paintings look real. He combines locations, he moves structures, he omits what he doesn't want to show. It is almost a mystical reality, meant to evoke mood as much as to freeze a moment in time.

The audio accompaniment was very interesting, including several conversations with Wyeth himself. Much of this concentrated on the relationship between the individual pictures and people and places associated with Wyeth. In fact, his paintings appear to be as much a diary as anything else, which gives them most a type of interest that they otherwise would lack but, at the same time, takes away something as well.

We were also surprised that some of his best known works (such as "Christina's World") were not represented, and that so few of the "Helga" paintings were on display.

After the show, I looked through the comment book. Many comments were written by children who saw the exhibition with their classmates and who said such things as: "Keep up the good work" and "In 'Airborne' was there a bird that was hit by something [feathers floating in the sky]? If so, this was the funniest picture ever. Please email me an answer." and "I'm more of a musician. Why take a picture of something if it is already there?"