The summertime view from Second Wind on Maple Juice Cove in Cushing, Maine reveals the Olson house, the backdrop for Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World, one of the most widely recognized paintings by an American artist. Today we commemorate the passing of Andrew on January 16, 2009 and celebrate the legacy of the whole Wyeth clan.
While I couldn’t afford the original, long owned by and housed in NYC’s MoMA, I was able to buy the commemorative set of “FOREVER” stamps issued by the U.S. Post Office. It has been 70 years since this tempera painting was created in the style known as magic realism. During this time the trees grew in and the house fell in further disrepair, but thankfully it has since been restored and preserved by the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, ME.
As part of our commemoration the crew of Second Wind took advantage of its shore leave to visit the Brandywine River Museum of Art in Delaware County, PA. The museum highlights local artists, the most notable of which are the Wyeth’s, and is part of a 33,000 acre conservancy of the local rural landscape. The Wyeth family resided in Chadds Ford, PA while they summered in Maine, using both the locations and the people as subjects for their studies.
The family legacy started with father N.C. who began as an illustrator back in the days when that was the preferred medium for print. N.C. helped bring to life the excitement of the high seas and its pirates by creating the color illustrations for the 1930’s edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Thanks to the Wyeth’s and their continuing legacy to the world of American art and adventurers.
the laughing pirates 