The Wyeths, Three Generations

A little known exhibit gallery, the Mona Bismarck Foundation, 34 Av. de New York, Paris, has good shows. The one on right now is the Wyeths, 3 generations. Although Andrew Wyeth is known in France, it is the first time his father, N.C. Wyeth, and his son, Jamie Wyeth have been shown. It's an excellent show.

Paul and I had seen an exhibit of the Wyeths at the Brandywine museum a long, long time ago, the early 80s, I think. N.C. Wyeth is known for his illustrations of books: Treasure Island, for example. His paintings were mostly oil. 

Andrew Wyeth is well known for "Christina's World". What I paid attention to in this exhibit is his drawing, his watercolors and tempera. He paid such attention to detail. Some of his paintings seem almost hyper-realistic. There's a pine tree in one; not a single needle is missing and the bare trees way in the background are not missing any branches. Lots of his paintings have snow and the light seems to come from within the paintings. There are wonderful portraits. 

Jaimie Wyeth uses all sorts of techniques -- all perfectly. He, too, is a great portrait artist. He's known for his posthumous portrait of John Kennedy, which is in the exhibit. There are also some beautiful preliminary sketches and the final paintings of Rudolph Nureyev and Andy Warhol. There are also beautiful paintings of the Maine island where he spends summers.

Upstairs, there's a video of Jamie Wyeth working on one of the paintings, the Inferno. There are also some beautiful photographs of the Wyeths.

The exhibit ends in mid-February, so if you are in Paris these days, I recommend going.