Always under sail.

[TomY]

It was blowing hard yesterday out of the Southwest, gusting to 30 knots. Pelting rain, it was a good day NOT to be on a boat. Instead, we took in the Andrew Wyeth at 100, exhibit at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, Me.

The bulk of the work on display were the artists ‘studies’; simple works of pencil and watercolor, where he refined his ideas and details for the finished works, yet to come.

‘Goodbye, My Love’ is the study for Andrew Wyeth’s final work, completed in 2008, the year he died.

Spending so many years living and working on the coast of Maine, he must have been a sailor. The Maine coast infuses all his art. Yet I can find no record of his sailing or sailboats he may have owned(research shows he may have owned a Friendship sloop).

I was touched by his final study, ‘Goodbye, My Love’, created along a familiar (to me), thread of water between Allen’s and Benner Island, where he had a studio.

‘Goodbye, My Love’, in pencil and watercolor, shows a Friendship sloop effortlessly sailing away, leaving a placid wake behind.

 

[DaveEvans]

The house is still there, but a massive new working pier shrinks it.

 

[jssailem]

Thanks Tom.
An image we all might see if we closed our eyes for a moment and thought about sailing.

 

[SG]

I think that's a different house -- or Wythe didn't get the proportions right, Tom. Chimney in a different place, too.

Thanks for posting.

 

[Rick486]

Artistic license.....Wyeth was capturing the essence of the scene rather than the precise detail...

 

[SG]

He was better than that, me thinks.

I think the house isn’t the house. But that just my conjecture.

 

[marke14]

Very nice, thanks for sharing! I love paintings of sailboats, this one is very nice. I even have a greeting card that I purchased from Trader Joe's because it featured a smart image of a sailboat underway ... it's on my cubicle wall at work.

 

[DaveEvans]

There's the larger house on Benner, but it's very different. There may be other houses on Allen, but we got chased away by the keeper who lived in the Allen house. (Although he did come down to the pier to tell us to pick up moorings.)

 

[jssailem]

Artistic License. The painter's eye... Pablo Picasso, Cubism, Impressionism...

One of these may be relevant...
Impressed yet? Thankfully there is spell check..

 

[TomY]

Dave's photo doesn't show this house. Wyeth captured the house that looks over the water with minute architectural detail. That building is old and restored, probably under he and his wife's supervision. The work shows (to me) he had a love for that building as he presents it just as it is. The big docks (I think), are to the right in the painting.

What he did (I think) is eliminate anything else that would actually be in the view today. This is a photo from the back of the house looking out on the water he would have been looking at. The big docks would the to the left, in this photo.
You can see the exact chimney location, weathervane, window details on the Greek Revival house(wide corner pilasters). He recreated the front porch which can be seen on the front on this photo.

What is really missing is the Weymouth cross in front of the building. The cross was there in 2008.

The photographer here is standing in the barren foreground of 'Goodbye, My Love', shooting across the water the Friendship sloop is sailing on.

But he left out buildings like this one, a bunkhouse for students. The Wyeth's made the island a study center for students and a working farm. I give him this license, the artist created the building, he can take-ith away,...

Also of interest is an accomplished local photographer, and friend, Peter Ralston. He has old connections to the Wyeth family and to helping them create their world on Allen's and Benner Islands. Like Andrew Wyeth's 'Christina's World, Peters iconic life photo (I bet this will hold), was shot on the way to Allen's Island, as they delivered sheep. Titled, Pentecost.

 

[TomY]

I found these two photos I took in 2012 when going through the small waterway between Allen's and Benner Islands.

From the water that Wyeth's Friendship sloop (which I think I found, BTW) was traversing, this is looking at Allen's Island and the house in his work, on the port side going into the harbor.

And this is looking at Benner Island, farther into the harbor, off the starboard side.

The Wyeth's had a house on Benner, and Andrew often painted from the 'Fish House', a small building he used as a studio when they were on Benner Island.

Picture yourself on the docks or nearby, looking back (way back) at the water I just left a wake in. Put the white building in the right side of the frame, exchange Xmas for the friendship sloop - going the other way,...voila
(In fact, the actual granite rise in front of the building may hide the buildings in the background?)

 

[genec]

Artistic license can allow the artist to arrange the painting any damn way they want. My wife is a watercolor artist and she even makes up places that don't exist, but using things that do exist.

The building is real, but the business is not. The boat is on a different island. GRIN

 

[jssailem]

I agreed with you (see message #9... ) Oh.. tell you wife she does nice water color. Looks like a place that should exist on Whidbey Island.

 

[genec]

I agreed with you (see message #9... ) Oh.. tell you wife she does nice water color. Looks like a place that should exist on Whidbey Island.

Yeah a number of folks thought so too... people comment on it and reply "I know just where that is..."

The boat is sitting on the hard in Anacortes... surrounded by tall grass and weeds... but it just looks like it lead a grand life.

She also did a painting of the Lake Erie Store, up on Fidalgo Island... it was surprising to hear folks question where Lake Erie is... "that's not here... is it?"

Yeah, artistic license is an interesting thing... And I fully agree that Wyeth was likely capturing the spirit of the moment... and did so, quite well.

There are discussions about realism in the painting community... (understand, I am NOT a painter, just an "art supporter") and it strikes me that hey, if I wanted realism... I'd take a photograph. Often a painting can convey so much more... through the "feel" of the art, the composition, the colors used, and yes, brushstrokes. (or lack thereof).

 

[TomY]

I love your wife's work, Gene.

Wyeth's work was always controversial(even on SBO), especially in his early career. He came up in a new modernist era where his work was often panned as too realistic, too much of an illustrator, like his father(world renowned), N.C.Wyeth.

I haven't seen the real finished work of Goodbye, My Love. It sold and is in a private collection(I think). Wyeth's wife changed the name of the finished piece to just "Goodbye". I get that, his 'goodbye, my love' may have been too personal for her.

I think he did in fact own a Friendship sloop, and it's on display in Bath Me.

http://www.mainemaritimemuseum.org/exhibits/historic-boat-collection/

This could be it.

 

[rgranger]

How did they get those sheep to wear those cute wool coats?

 

[jssailem]

cute wool coats?

They are pretty cool.
What happens after they have been sheared.
Cute coats. Just a bit chilly.

 

[Mary Lou]

I remember as a college student, looking down my nose at Andrew Wyeth as just a realist artist. Then I went to a major exhibition of his work and was stunned by how he pared away layers of reality to get at meaning that I didn't always grasp. I wish I knew about that painting a while ago and that it was included in the Andrew Wyeth at 100 exhibition which just closed at the Brandywine River Museum near here. That exhibit is going on to Seattle. I looked up the painting in Google Images and finally found some photos from the exhibit opening in PA. Thought-provoking to say the least. His title is better.

 

[Mary Lou]

Here, if I can make this work from my ancient tablet is the full painting. Note the boat sailing out of the frame and it's wake slicing the perfect reflection.
http://cdn0.locable.com/uploads/resource/file/377106/gallery_curator.JPG

 

[TomY]

Mary Lou, thanks! Interesting how the building is more prominent in the finish. The water and wake are
beautifully developed. The boat seem less prominent. What do you see?