Andrew Wyeth 1917-2009

Coe Kerr Gallery, New York
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Levine, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1969
Arthur and Holly Magill, Greenville, South Carolina, 1979
Seibu Pisa Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, 1990 
Corporate collection, Japan (sold: Sotheby's, New York, November 30, 2000, lot 106, illustrated in color)
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 2000

Washington, D.C., The White House, The White House Show, February-March 1970
Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, Andrew Wyeth, July-September 1970, no. 87, p. 46, illustrated in color p. 47
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth: Kuerners and Olsons, October 1976-November 1977, no. 110, illustrated
Greenville, South Carolina, Greenville County Museum of Art, Works by Andrew Wyeth from the Holly and Arthur Magill Collection, September 1979, no. 9, p. 35, illustrated in color (and on extended loan through January 1989)
Nagoya, Japan, Aichi Prefectural Museum; Tokyo, Japan, Bunkamura Museum of Art; Fukushima City, Japan, Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art; Kansas City, Missouri, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Andrew Wyeth: Retrospective-Andrew Wyeth: Autobiography, February-November 1995, p. 81, illustrated in color 

Christopher Andreae and Victoria Donohoe, "Andrew Wyeth Stars at the White House," The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 1970
Gerald S. Lestz, "Andrew Wyeth's Surprise,"  New Era, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, February 1970, p. 1
Gerald S. Lestz, "Nixon Honoring Wyeth and His Paintings,"  New Era, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, February 1970, p. 1, illustrated
"Nixon's Will Honor Artist," Washington Post, February 1970
"Wyeth on Display," Daily Local News, West Chester, Pennsylvania, February 1970, p. 2
"Wyeth's Paintings a White House First," Evening Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, February 1970
"Wyeth Revisited," Evening Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, February 1970
"Wyeth Work to Aid House Restoration," Portland Press Herald, February 1970, p. 9, illustrated
"White House Display," Portland Press Herald, February 1970, p. 9, illustrated
Henry Themal, "Wyeth's in the White House," Evening Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, March 1970, illustrated
Ernest Haskell, Jr., "Art Palette," Times Record, Brunswick, Maine, July 1970, illustrated
Donald Cragin, "Joe Levine - 64 and Moving," Sunday Herald Traveler, August 1970, illustrated
Caron LeBrun, "The Wyeth Magic," Boston Herald, August 1970, p. 12-14, illustrated in color
John Canaday, "Andrew Wyeth: Rising Above the Scorn," The Art Gallery, May 1970, pp. 102-115, illustrated in color p. 126
Victoria Donohoe, "Andrew Wyeth Stars at the White House," Philadelphia Inquirer, February 22, 1970, illustrated
Christopher Andreae, "White House One-Man Show Salutes Painter Wyeth," Christian Science Monitor, February 24, 1970, illustrated
William Schemmel, "Wyeth's of Greenville," Pace, July 1980, pp. 44-46, illustrated in color

Very good condition. Under UV: small ½" vertical line of retouch to lower right edge, one small retouch to right of back of head, otherwise fine.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Throughout his lengthy career Andrew Wyeth consistently drew inspiration from his immediate surroundings. Nearly all of his subjects were located in or near the two places he loved most—Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, where he was born and raised, and Cushing, Maine, where he spent his summers. Wyeth's evocative portraits feature neighbors and friends such as Johnny Lynch, the subject of the present work. Lynch belonged to a large Chadds Ford family, several of whose members appear in Wyeth's paintings. The artist once described the inspiration for this portrait: "A Chadds Ford boy—Johnny Lynch—Jimmy Lynch's half brother. A real Lynch. I, frankly, was intrigued by his jet-black hair. Often my interest in a subject comes from apparently insignificant detail. I liked his character. He was strong and quick. The title is the section of Chadds Ford—the Italian part of town—where his family lived for some time. Why Buzzard's Glory? Well, this was where people lived who used to shoot buzzard's to eat, and the place was always called Buzzard's Glory. I can't imagine how anyone could live after eating a buzzard" (in Andrew Wyeth: Autobiography, 1995, p. 81). 

Though Wyeth worked in watercolor during his early career, by 1938 he increasingly devoted his attention to tempera. Wyeth credited artist Peter Hurd for introducing him to the medium. In 1924, when Wyeth was six, Hurd arrived in Pennsylvania from New Mexico to study with Wyeth's father, N.C., and eventually married Andrew's sister Henriette. In his youth, Wyeth found a mentor in Hurd who counterbalanced N.C.'s imposing teaching style. In an interview with Thomas Hoving, then Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wyeth recalled that Hurd "had read up a good deal about [tempera] and in a sense he was responsible for bringing the technique back into use in this country. He gave me a terrific grounding in the medium ..."

In the Hoving interview, Wyeth also discussed the medium's allure and its significance in his work: "I think the real reason tempera fascinated me was that I loved the quality of the colors: the earth colors ... I get colors from all over the country, even the world. They aren't filled with dyes. There's nothing artificial ... I've been blamed from time to time, for the fact that my pictures are colorless, but the color I use is so much like the country I live in. ... Tempera is something that I can truly build. My temperas are very broadly painted in the very beginning. Then I tighten down on them. If you get the design and the shape of the thing you want to paint, you can go on and on and on. There's no limitation. The only limitation is yourself. Tempera is, in a sense, like building, really building in great layers the way the earth was built. It all depends on what you have in the depth of your being ..." (in The Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth: The Kuerners and Olsons, 1976, p. 34).