Three Generations of The Wyeth Art Collection: Bank of America

N. C. Wyeth (1882–1945)

Eight Bells, (Clyde Stanley and Andrew Wyeth aboard Eight Bells), 1937

Oil on hardboard

20” x 30” (48.9 x 76.2 cm)

This exhibition provides a comprehensive survey of works by N. C. Wyeth, one of America’s finest illustrators; his son, Andrew, an important realist painter; and Andrew’s son Jamie, a popular portraitist. Through the works of these artists from three generations of the Wyeth family, themes of American history, artistic techniques and creative achievements can be explored.

N. C. Wyeth (American, 1882–1945) has long been considered one of the nation’s leading illustrators. In the early 1900s, he studied with illustrator Howard Pyle in Delaware. In 1911, he built a house and studio in nearby Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. Later, he bought a sea captain’s house in Maine and in 1931 built a small studio, which he shared with his son, Andrew, and his daughters. The exhibition includes illustrations for books by Robert Louis Stevenson and Washington Irving as well as historical scenes, seascapes and landscapes.

Andrew Wyeth (American, 1917–2009) is one of the United States’ most popular artists, and his paintings follow the American Realist tradition. He was influenced by the works of Winslow Homer, whose watercolor technique he admired, as well as by the art of Howard Pyle and his father, N. C. While Andrew painted recognizable images, his use of line and space often imbue his works with an underlying abstract quality. The exhibition includes important works from the 1970s and 1980s as well as recent paintings.

Jamie Wyeth (American, b. 1946), like his father and grandfather, paints subjects of everyday life, in particular the landscapes, animals and people of Pennsylvania and Maine. In contrast to his father—who painted with watercolor, drybrush and tempera—Jamie works in oil and mixed media, creating lush painterly surfaces. The eighteen Jamie Wyeth paintings in the exhibition represent all periods of his career.