Brandywine Museum of Art: Cropsey, Wyeth And The American Landscape Tradition

 A large open foyer mimics the one on the second floor.  The one side faces a walled courtyard with tables and chairs and strings of those popular garden light bulbs running from the side of the museum to the far wall.  One can easily imagine a festive wedding reception or a benefactors' event, even a more intimate concert, lecture or poetry reading in this secluded courtyard.  On the opposite side the floor to ceiling glass forms a wide arch creating an area with concentric comfy chairs and a stunning view of the Brandywine Creek.  Just now I left a similar area on the floor below full of pre-schoolers and the moms enjoying a story hour--a sign that this is a welcoming and beloved institution in the wider community.

The first of two additional Gallery spaces consists of three rooms with an exhibition titled "Cropsey, Wyeth (Andrew) And The American Landscape Tradition."  By the time you enter the second and largest of the three rooms, you've said good bye to Jasper Francis Cropsey and you're pretty much looking at works by Andrew Wyeth.  The final room is all Wyeth.  Which is fine, after all the museum is built on what was his farm.  A few images and impressions.

"Autumn in the Ramapo Valley, Erie Railway," 1873

Jasper Francis Cropsey (1823 - 1900)

DETAIL "Autumn in the Ramapo Valley, Erie Railway"

Cropsey painted a lot of landscapes and at one point early in his career he traveled to London with a stash of them in hopes of obtaining a gallery that would represent him there.  You'd think anyone with such talent would have had an easy time of it; however, his autumn landscapes proved problematic.  Apparently autumns are far less colorful in England, and people just thought he was making it up!

"Coast of California," 1870's

Albert Bierstadt (1830 - 1902)

The post Civil War era in the United States was a grand time to be a landscape painter.  While the form got its initial kick via a group of artists who painted images of nature throughout the upper mid-Atlantic and New England and came to be known as the Hudson Valley School; they were easily eclipsed.  The east was hohum, it was the exotic west that had captured everyone's imaginations.  Like the British art patrons who poopoohed Cropsey's Autumn fare, stories of Grand Canyons, Grand Tetons, Grand Deserts, Geysers, Rivers, Waterfalls, Lakes, not to mention the wild beasts...  An artist with a keen sense of what the market wanted could make a killing, and several tried.  Among the most successful was a German immigrant named Albert Bierstadt. 

Bierstadt made a grand visit to the west seeing everything he could make his way to see.  He sketched like mad and took notes and made quick studies with both oil and watercolors.  He filled notebooks with notes and then returned to the east and churned out one of the most impressive collections of Western landscapes ever conceived.  Many of his works were monumental, we're talking 6 + feet tall and 8 or more feet wide.  These were paintings for public spaces, and the public ate them up.  Such was his talent, he also painted even more works of a modest size, repeating some of his most beloved locations.  All that said, I've never seen a painting by him of the Pacific Ocean.  What Joy!

"Blasted Tree and Deserted House," 1920

George Wesley Bellows

Artists of the Ashcan School were prevalent and popular during the heart of N. C. Wyeth's career.  The aforementioned John Sloan was a member, and so was George Wesley Bellows.  Bellows was perhaps the most recognizable of the group.  Besides painting of boxers in the midst of their sport, and urban settings with industrial aspects, his use of the color Cobalt Blue is a hands down key characteristic of his paintings.  Thus my surprise to discover this one.  Nary a hint of that dark, brilliant, nearly metallic shade of blue.  And neither 'house' nor 'tree' withstanding, I feel like the mountain is the real star of the painting.

"Robert Howorth Sledding," 1935

Andrew Wyeth, (1917 - 2009)

"Pennsylvania Landscape," 1941

Andrew Wyeth, (1917 - 2009)

"Fairy Cove, Port Clyde," circa 1925 - 1930

N. C. Wyeth (1882 - 1945)

"Winter Fodder," 1939

Andrew Wyeth, (1917 - 2009)

No one paints solitude like Andrew Wyeth...

"Osborne Hill," 1948

Andrew Wyeth, (1917 - 2009)

DETAIL "Osborne Hill"

"Untitled," 1941

Andrew Wyeth, (1917 - 2009)

I am not without a certain degree of ADD.  I will hit a wall and things sort of blur.  I either distract myself to clear my head, or take a nap!  On a gallery wall with 6 similar paintings, one titled: "Untitled" isn't likely to get my attention, especially when my attention is teetering.  But then deep inside my head another voice sometimes prevails.  It pricks my consciousness and seems to say, "Hey.  Hold on there.  Look again.  You're missing something!"  So I do and there it is.

DETAIL "Untitled"

The train...  Andrew seemed to have a little thing for trains.

"Night Sleeper," 1979

Andrew Wyeth, (1917 - 2009)

A later work.  A tender portrait of the family dog, Nell.  She sleeps against a striped duffle on a padded seat flanked by two windows.  It's not a real place, but a suggested one.  It's a train car.  And looking out of the window is the farm the Andrew purchased and transformed into his home, the site of this museum.  Hard to see, but leaning against the building are a pair of millstones.  Remember that.

"Woodshed," 1944

Andrew Wyeth, (1917 - 2009)

No mention of the dead crows in the title.