Art that inspires...

I got up this morning and braved the sub-zero weather to get the paper. When I got it back inside, I opened the paper and looked at the headlines of the Globe. At the bottom of the front page I saw the headline “Andrew Wyeth, austere artist of the familiar, dies”. I wasn’t particularly surprised by the news as Wyeth was 91. But, it brought back some fond memories of Art History class and our family trip to Philadelphia for Spring Break 2006.

As an art major and artist myself, I always enjoy viewing art whenever I get the chance. I was hoping to get the chance on one of my many trips to New York City to get to see the exhibition Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night at the Museum of Modern Art. Unfortunately, it closed Jan. 5th. But, I did get a chance to take my family to a major retrospective of Andrew Wyeth's work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2006 during our Spring Break. Wyeth, along with Edward Hopper, is one of my favorite artists.

I think that art is highly subjective and what one person likes can most certainly be disliked by others. Wyeth was no exception. While he was wildly popular, many art critics felt his work was too formulaic, sentimental and too illustrative. Of course, the illustrative criticism is one of the things I liked most about his work. As someone who wanted to work in commercial art, illustration was something I could relate to and Wyeth’s work spoke to me.

The retrospective we got to see included over 100 of Wyeth’s tempera paintings from his early works in the 1930’s to some of his most recent works. I found that many of the paintings I had seen in books or slides were even more vivid than in reproductions. Wyeth did not want you to be able to see his brush work. So, he worked with tempera and water colors using the dry brush method. Wyeth said that these mediums allowed him to avoid painting “a picture that looks like a painting.”

The Philadelphia museum’s official release on the exhibition when we were there stated that the show “explores in depth Wyeth’s frequently unadorned and often haunting images - ranging from natural forms like rocks and trees and humble containers such as buckets, to stark rooms, windows with curtains lifted in the breeze, bare hills, and people lost in deep introspection. The works which draw upon his boyhood experiences in and lifelong affection for the Brandywine Valley near Philadelphia and on the coast of Maine.”

Our family liked his work so much. Even though his work was so real, they were also abstract and evoked many different feelings and meanings when you viewed them. Each of us felt we saw something different as we walked through the exhibition. We decided to purchase a small reproduction which is now hanging in our front entry hallway as you enter our house. It is titled “The Quaker”. You can see it here. It is a shame he will no longer be able to give us more of his artistic vision. But, we have all of his works to view and contemplate for many years to come. May he rest in peace.

Here are my training totals for this week. It was a tough run on Sunday due to the snow storm. I had to really take it slow so as not to injure myself:

Jan. 11 – 8.25 miles (1:24:19, 10:13 pace) – Snow Day

Jan. 13 – 6.00 miles (57:10, 9:32 pace) – E. Elmhurst, NY

Jan. 14 – 3.00 miles (22:39, 7:33 pace) – Speed work, E. Elmhurst, NY
Jan. 15 – 6.20 miles (56:55, 9:11 pace) – Tempo Run
Jan. 16 – 7.00 miles (1:07:57, 9:43 pace)

Jan. 17 – 6.00 miles (55:04, 9:11 pace)

Total Miles: 36.45 miles

2009 YTD Miles: 88.75 miles