Educational Media Reviews Online

Andrew Wyeth (1917 - ) is arguably the country's most well-known and popular artists. In his drawings and paintings, he has immortalized his birthplace and home, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and the surrounding Brandywine River Valley. In many cases, the buildings, objects, and people who populate his images have become familiar icons, yet the artist's life and his approach to his art and craft remain largely private. This authorized documentary, narrated by actor Stacey Keach, examines the artist's life and work, by incorporating letters, family photos and movies, interviews with Wyeth, and his model Helga, and art work.

Wyeth's astonishing sensitivity and power of reflection were noticed by his parents when he was just a young boy. By the age of 16, under the intensely rigorous instruction of his father, illustrator N. C. Wyeth, Andy, as he was known to family and friends, dedicated himself to his passion and future. N. C. Wyeth loomed large in both life and death, influencing his son through his values and teachings. Although Wyeth did not find his voice in the vibrant colors of his father's palette, preferring the muted harmonies of earth tones, he did share his love of rural Pennsylvania, a disciplined approach to his life's work, and love and loyalty toward family and close friends.

In 1937, at the age of 20, Wyeth had his first one-man show at the Macbeth Gallery in New York. That early success foretold the future successes and fame:

• in 1948, the Museum of Modern Art purchased Christina's World, which instantly captured the public's imagination and launched Wyeth's fame;
• he was the first painter awarded the Presidential Freedom Award by President John F. Kennedy in 1963;
• his 1967 exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York) set an attendance record for that museum;
• and in 1990, Wyeth became the first artist to be conferred with the Congressional Gold Medal.

Wyeth made headlines again a few years ago, when it was revealed that he had created and kept secret more than 200 works of art, created over a period of fifteen years, that featured the same artist's muse, Helga Testorf, a neighbor.

Most revealing are Wyeth's own comments. Walking in and around his environs, he speaks about his friends and neighbors-the Olsons, the Kuerners; memories of his father; his interests and observations. In his ninth decade, he is focused inward, on a treasure trove of thoughts and feelings that find inspiration in the quiet and isolation of winter snow, vacancy, the color white, and minute details that generally go unnoticed by most. He is protective and trustful of his inner voice, always trying to achieve greater depth in his work and remaining true to his personal vision. A quote from N. C. Wyeth opens and closes the documentary and captures the spirit of Andrew Wyeth's unending fascination with the subjects he has painted all these years:

"A great truth is like a mountain
That one walks around, and the
Changes of its contour as one moves
His position only emphasize and
Revivify its majesty."

This documentary has much to recommend it. The facts of the artist's life and career are clearly presented. It is well photographed. The pacing of the film and its quiet, classical score appropriately showcase and elucidate the viewer's understanding of the art and the artist. It can be enjoyed by students of American art-junior high and above-- as an introduction to and overview of the highlights in Wyeth's career.