Victoria Browning Wyeth is not a big fan of secondary sources. The only granddaughter of iconic 20th-Century American realist painter Andrew Wyeth, with whom she was in constant conversation until his death in 2009, she prefers a hands-on approach to exploring the three generations of artists in her family.
It only makes sense, then, that Wyeth has taken on the role of guest curator of this summer’s exhibition about her family at Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, “Drawn from Life: Three Generations of Wyeth Figure Studies.”
A writer and lecturer who has curated three other exhibitions on her family, Wyeth is singularly qualified to pull the proverbial curtain back on the shared artistic process of her great-grandfather N.C., an artist best known for his illustrations of classic literature, her grandfather Andrew, whose best-known painting Christina’s World is on display at MoMA, and her uncle Jamie, an acclaimed contemporary realist painter—all three of whom encountered a steep learning curve as young artists mastering the human figure.
“Drawn from Life” provides an intimate snapshot of the foundations on which each artist’s later work was built. “Looking at the early anatomical drawings by my family gives us a peek into the beginnings of their careers as artists, acute observers of their environment, and brilliant draftsmen,” Wyeth states in her introduction to the exhibition catalog.
This insightful collection of works examines how each artist individually honed his expertise at rendering the human form. Andrew observed live models (who eventually tired of posing), “so that he could meticulously obsess over every muscle and fold and crease in the body,” Wyeth states. Jamie found an intricate understanding of human anatomy (plus subjects that did not complain) at the morgue. The practice, equal parts brilliant and macabre, “helped him to understand the underlying structures and how they informed what the external features looked like,” she states. In N.C.’s work, you see the artistic voice that guided them both. Selected works by Carolyn Wyeth, an accomplished artist in her own right who was trained by her father N.C. and instructed her nephew Jamie, round out the exhibition.
These collective early works, some never before displayed, give glimpses into each artist’s oeuvre. “Without these basic figurative drawings, we never would have had Blind Pew from N.C.’s Treasure Island, Christina Olson from Andy’s Christina’s World, or Jamie’s countless paintings of [dancer] Rudolf Nureyev,” Wyeth says.
In addition to viewing the exhibition, visitors to the museum can join Victoria Browning Wyeth this summer in Cooperstown as she provides engaging lectures, filled with her deep insight (and amusing familial anecdotes) into the collection of works. A trio of ongoing programs—from a special tour for grandparents and their grandchildren (cookies and milk included) to after-hours gallery talks informed by interviews with both her uncle Jamie and father, Nicholas Wyeth, about what it was like to grow up in a family of artists—will no doubt delight visitors of all ages.
“Drawn from Life: Three Generations of Wyeth Figure Studies” is on view at Fenimore Art Museum from May 7 through September 5. For more information, visit Fenimoreartmuseum.org or call (888) 547-1450.
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