Art as Witness to History with James Wyeth Thursday, May 15, 2003

Grades 6 – 12

When viewing Art as Witness to History with James Wyeth and participating in this guide’s suggested activities, the following National Standards for Art with be addressed: 3, 4, 5.

Background Information

For centuries, artists have been visual recorders of his-tory. Well before the advent of photography, artists were relied upon to document and transcribe historical as well as everyday events. The artist in the battlefield, the landscape and portrait artist, and the newspaper and magazine illustrator provided a visual link to his-tory. Through three genera-tions of painters, the Wyeth family has been a witness to history, carefully observing the American experience and capturing it on canvas.

famous people came alive through Wyeth’s powerful and dramatic images. In a career that spanned more than four decades, N.C. Wyeth contributed pictures to many popular magazines, often documenting an im-portant moment in our coun-try’s history.

“The Patriot” and “The Ger-man.” Although Andrew was inspired by his imagination and by his subjects, not nec-essarily by events of World War I, these paintings are revealing documents of ac-tual events.

N.C. Wyeth

Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945) created illus-trations that excited the imagination of readers dur-ing the early decades of the 20th century when Ameri-cans depended on books and periodicals for informa-tion and entertainment. Pi-rates, cowboys, Indians, knights, and history’s most

Andrew Wyeth

Andrew Wyeth was born in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, on July 12, 1917. Consid-ered the most popular American painter of his time, he is best known for his im-ages of the people and land-scape of rural Chester County, Pennsylvania and coastal Maine. For Andrew, the subject of the painting is “the spark that ignited his imagination.” For example, Wyeth’s childhood drawings of American and German soldiers during World War I would later influence his re-alistic and emotional por-traits of his neighbors’ in

James Wyeth

James Wyeth is the son of Andrew and Betsy Wyeth. While coming of age in the 1960s, James Wyeth began recording the events of the second half of the 20th cen-tury. In 1963, Wyeth was invited by NASA to document their space program. NASA understood that while cam-eras could record every mo-ment of a mission, only a painter could capture its

emotional impact. At the age of 19, James was asked to paint an official portrait of President Kennedy. Al-though he declined that commission, his “Portrait of President John F. Kennedy” made its debut in 1967 in

Look magazine. In 1973, he was asked to visually record “The Plumber’s Trials,” the initial trials of the Watergate scandal. No photographers were allowed in the court-room and the public and me-dia relied on image by Wyeth and others. He continued to draw his impressions while covering the Watergate Con-gressional hearings and sub-sequent trials. A year later, James Wyeth approached legendary dancer Rudolph Nureyev, asking to paint his portrait. These portraits now serve as a visual connection to one of the world’s most famous ballet dancers and as a tribute to a unique col-laboration between artists. After the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the New York Observer asked James to paint an illustra-tion for its front page. Within days of the attack, Wyeth was an eyewitness to the destruction. He re-turned to his studio where he worked day and night for three days. His painting now serves as a tribute to the firefighters of New York.

About the Program

Can works of art help us better understand moments in history? Join well-known American artist James Wyeth inside a museum for a look at selected historical events and significant Americans of the 20th century as seen

Instructional Activity Be a Part of History!

Choose a picture of an his-torical painting. Research the historical event in the picture. Answer the ques-tions: Who? What? Where? When? How? Why? Other than factual information, what else do you think the artist was trying to communi-cate? Imagine that you are living during this time and reporting on these events. Will it be a news report? An interview with a subject from the painting? Or, with the painter? Be creative as long as the historical information is accurate. Involve class-mates in your project. Make your presentation to your class. After, discuss if you thought that the artist por-trayed the event accurately based on your research.

James Wyeth, Cont.

OOOOn the Web:n the Web:n the Web:n the Web: kennedy-center.org/pwtv farnsworthmuseum.org brandywinemuseum.org

Print:Print:Print:Print: Belanger, Pamela J., ed. Cap-turing Nureyev: James Wyeth Paints the Dancer. Rockland: Fransworth Art Museum, 2002; distributed by University Press of Eng-land. Merryman, Richard. Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. One Nation: Patriots and Pi-rates Portrayed by N.C. Wyeth and James Wyeth. Exhibition Catalog. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2000; introduction by Lauren Raye Smith. Wyeth, Andrew. Andrew Wyeth: Autobiography. New York: Little, Brown and Com-pany, 1995; introduction by Thomas Hoving VideoVideoVideoVideo One Nation: Patriots and Pi-rates Portrayed by N.C. Wyeth and James Wyeth. Full Circle Studios, 2000. Capturing Nureyev: James Wyeth Paints the Dancer. Full Circle Studios, 2002.

through paintings by N.C., Andrew, and James Wyeth. This tour of works by the most famous family of artists as witness and recorder of history can give new meaning to our understanding of our nation’s history.

Resources