Jamie Wyeth at Chadds Ford

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Kent House, 1972, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Wyeth.  This is a house built in 1907 on Monhegan Island in Maine by Rockwell Kent and later purchased by Jamie Wyeth with money he earned at age 22 from his first solo show. Wyeth lives and paints there still.

Jamie Wyeth in front of Roots, Revisited, at Brandywine Museum of Art, March 15, 2024/By Patricia Leslie

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Roots, Revisited (detail), 2019, The  Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth Collection

A prize to whomever named the newest Jamie Wyeth exhibition at the Brandywine Museum of Art, Unsettled.  It is that and much more.

It is dark, foreboding and one can't help but wonder if it is Wyeth's invitation to the grave. Little hope, enthusiasm or anything resembling "pretty" is found among the more than 50 paintings in this collection which spans almost 60 years (1964-2022). It falls in the manner of Mark Rothko who painted darks, and Van Gogh who painted black birds, both near the end of their lives, but Wyeth has been painting "darks" for decades.

Wyeth's collection represents a lot which is old, decaying, no more.

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Fallen, (detail) 1975, private collection. The small white circles in the center are reflections of lights at the museum.

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), River Trunk, 1968, The Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth Collection

Jamie Wyeth in front of Roots, Revisited at Brandywine Museum of Art, March 15, 2024, pointing to Spring, The Hanging of the Tree Rocks, below/By Patricia Leslie

 

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Spring, The Hanging of the Tree Rocks, 2017, The Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth Collection. Wyeth's wife, Phyllis, may be the person pictured here. Wyeth told members of the press that he woke up in the middle of the night to work on the painting which he carried to the frame's edges. 

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Portrait of Michael Jackson, 1985, The  Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth Collection. One source says the frame surrounding the portrait was a gift from Jamie's father, Andrew.

 

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Julia on the Swing, 1999, private collection

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), My Mother and the Squall, 2016, private collection

Jamie Wyeth in front of Roots, Revisited, at Brandywine Museum of Art, March 15, 2024, with Amanda C. Burdan, Brandywine's senior curator and organizer of the exhibition/By Patricia Leslie

On March 15, 2024, he attracted about 25 members of the press who came to see his latest exhibition. He seemed shy and disquieted, not eager to talk but agreeable to it, perhaps pushed by his handlers to show up and draw the media, and it worked.

During his talk, he often referenced his wife,  Phyllis, who died in 2019. From observations, it seems that they were very close and enjoyed a happy marriage. Jamie Wyeth said he works from four to six hours a day. "I have no hobbies," he said, but if you enjoy it, isn't "work" a hobby? Or is it the other way around?

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Gull and Windsor, 1993, Collection of Lindsay and Candice Hooper

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Snow Owl, Fourteenth in a Suite of Untoward Occurrences on Monhegan Island, 2020, The  Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth Collection

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Wake,  2008, The  Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth Collection

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), First in the Screen Door Sequence, 2015, Brandywine River Museum of Art, gift of George A. Weymouth.  This is Andy Warhol and his dog, perhaps telling viewers, the label says, "our friends and loved ones may be in our lives only briefly." Warhol and Jamie Wyeth were friends.

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Consomm

é,

 2013,  Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina.  According to the label copy, this is a portrait of a ghost of the twin (?) of Jamie Wyeth's friend, Andy Warhol, who died in 1987. 

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Child Chairs, 1988, private collection

N.C.Wyeth (1882-1945), Chadds Ford Landscape July 1909, 1909, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Wyeth

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Frolic, 2016, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert V. Kohler, Jr.

 This honors one of Jamie Wyeth's close friends, George A. "Frolic" Weymouth, one of the founders of the Brandywine Museum of Art, and its chairman for almost 50 years. Jamie Wyeth painted this the year George Weymouth died (1936-2016).

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Deo du Pont Weymouth, c. 1966, gift of McCoy duPont (sic) Weymouth.  Ms. Weymouth's son, George A. Weymouth, was one of the founders of the Brandywine Museum of Art.

N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945), The Mysterious Island, cover illustration, 1918, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Hallock du Pont, Jr.  Ceiling lights at the top reflect on the book jacket, many similar covers which N.C. drew to support his family.  (For an excellent biography of N.C. Wyeth, read David Michaelis's book.)

Henriette Wyeth (1907-1997), Self Portrait, c. 1928, recent acquisition by the Brandywine River Museum of Art. Henriette Wyeth was trained by her father, N.C. Wyeth and later, at the Boston Museum of Art Academy and the Pennsylvania Academy of the FIne Arts.  Her husband was Peter Hurd, chiefly known for his portrait of President Lyndon Baines Johnson who called it "the ugliest thing I ever saw," and rejected it.  Hurd gave the portrait to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington with the agreement that it would not be displayed until LBJ left office (1969).  You can see it today in the Hall of Presidents at the Portrait Gallery.

Carolyn Wyeth (1909-1994), N.C.Wyeth's Barn, 1974.  Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Wyeth.  N.C. Wyeth was Carolyn Wyeth's father and first art teacher when she was 12, according to the label copy.  She gave art lessons to her nephew, Jamie Wyeth, also when he was 12. 

Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975), Still Life, 1951, Brandywine River Museum of Art.

Looking dapper in stockings and knickers when he met the press, Jamie Wyeth's red sneakers matched the shoe color worn by Amanda C. Burdan, Brandywine's senior curator and organizer of the exhibition.

I have included notable works hanging on other floors at the museum which are not part of the exhibition but some drawn by Wyeth's father, grandfather, aunts and one by Thomas Hart Benton. 

From Brandywine, the exhibition travels to: 

Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME, July 4–September 29, 2024; 

Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC, November 27, 2024–February 16, 2025; 

Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH, March 15–June 8, 2025; 

and Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA, July 12–October 5, 2025

Rizzoli Electa has published a hardcover catalogue about the exhibition ($55).

The museum calls its newest show, "the art of visual storytelling. Fiercely independent in the face of prevailing art world trends, Jamie Wyeth stands apart in a shadowy and strange world of his own creation."  Amen to that!  Thank you, Jamie Wyeth. 

For another post I have written about the Wyeths, please see:

Wyeth's 'windows' closing at the National Gallery of Art, Nov. 28, 2014

What:  Jamie Wyeth: Unsettled 

When:  Now through June 9, 2024. 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Closed Tuesdays.

Where:  Brandywine Museum of Art, One Hoffman's Mill Rd., Chadds Ford, PA 19317

How much: $20,adults; $18, seniors (65+); $8, children ages 6-18 and students with ID. Free for children ages five and under and members of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art

For more information, call 610-388-2700

patricialesli@gmail.com