Andrew Wyeth. Introduction by David McCord. Selection by Frederick A. Sweet.

Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, [1970].

Price: $1,200.00


About the item

First edition. Illustrated. 224 pp. Oblong 4to. Publisher's illustrated wrappers, soiled and thumbed. Very good.

Item #244145

INSCRIBED by the artist to Lincoln Kirstein, "For Lincoln / with love / Andy" and with a post-script, "The FINNISH VIRGIN / is still hanging in the Mill House / -A." Wyeth is likely referring to THE VIRGIN (1970), his celebrated nude portrait of Siri Erickson. This work is part of large series of paintings of Siri, her family, and the Finnish community around Cushing, Maine. The Mill was Wyeth's home in Chadds Ford. The date of the publication of this catalogue and the completion of THE VIRGIN suggest Kirstein was an early admirer of the painting.

Kirstein, who was on the board of MoMA, met Andrew Wyeth after the museum acquired CHRISTINA'S WORLD in 1948. Wyeth was still largely unknown at that time, and he quickly came to rely on Kirstein for support and honest criticism of his work. "Kirstein appointed himself Wyeth's friend, admirer, mentor, and stern critic - in essence a supersuccessor to NC. [...] Wyeth thinks that in the 1950s he needed Kirstein to push him toward more form in his work, more solidity" (Meryman, Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life (1998) p 239, 243). Kirstein, who disdained most abstract art, was essential in providing Wyeth the confidence he needed to continue work in the face of hostile critics who derided his art as sentimental and unsophisticated. Wyeth was fond of quoting Kirstein's dismissive opinion of the critics, "Why do you want approval from those horses' asses?" (ibid, p. 390).
Kirstein was a father-figure to two generations of Wyeth artists, and as Andrew's son Jamie developed his own artistic gifts, Kirstein began to transfer his attention to the younger Wyeth. "After posing for nineteen-year-old Jamie, Kirstein more or less shifted his allegiance from Andrew and became Jamie's friend and mentor. Kirstein told Betsy, 'You gave me the only son I ever had'" (ibid, p. 275).