American Realist: Jamie Wyeth

Jamie Wyeth could well be considered the third leg of a secular trinity of sorts. He is one of America’s foremost practitioners of realistic painting. He is responsible for a formidable body of work that rivals the living and the ages. He has well mastered his chosen; perhaps genetic and culturally…even God-given medium; painting. Jamie Wyeth is an artist of the highest order. He is also the grandson of N.C. Wyeth and son of Andrew together forming, and continuing their great family’s tradition, devotion, commitment to and love of art.

Jamie labors painstakingly; hours, days and nights on works that result in things of interest, passion and a richness of beauty of craft. In this world; increasingly unappreciative of the works of the human hand, mind and spirit he reminds us of a vanishing, richer age. He continues to produce works that are challenging while true to life and it’s very essence. 

Wyeth’s life-long fascination with the visual arts and imagery was first informed by visits to his father’s studio, books, objects and an unquenchable curiosity of the natural world. While his unceasing interest and exploring of everything possible, he grew. As a child he asked to be able to leave school (like his father who never actually attend formal school) early on and be educated by his aunt Carolyn Wyeth. 

Her style was a departure from the expected Wyeth style of painstaking realism and naturalism. His aunt’s style fits more readily within the realm of a fantastic outsider/ folk genre. She also worked with oils, unlike Jamie’s father who worked primarily with egg tempera and led to Jamie’s becoming a practitioner of Oils. Wyeth would later study in New York where he came in contact with the likes of Andy Warhol, Rudolf Nureyev and Arnold Schwarzenegger. He went on to share many experiences within the New York Scene and this led to multiple studies and paintings of a rare depth and beauty.  

 Jamie Wyeth would eventually evolve with his natural abilities into something akin to his grandfather; an illustrator. He has to date done three children’s picture books: “Cabbages and Kings,” “Sammy and the Sky,” and his mother; Betsy’s story “The Stray.” In the age of Post Modernism, Abstraction, Minimalism and Dada the Wyeth’s have never been lauded by the overall contemporary “Art Scene.” Again; negativity from the art world elites who consider illustration unworthy of great talent or merit. Wyeth has met disdain with the following quote:

"We're charged, my father and I, with being a pack of illustrators. I've always taken it as a supreme compliment. What's wrong with illustration? There's this thing now that illustrations are sort of secondary to art and I think it's a bunch of crap."                                 

                                                                                                                           Jamie Wyeth     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                           

 

The Wyeth’s have survived and thrived in spite of some, somewhat expected snobbery and derision. It is the price of popularity. Jamie was chosen to be a member of the “Eye Witness to Space” group created by the National Gallery in Washington; DC and NASA. The goal was to represent the activities of the space program for the present and posterity. Some of the other participants were Norman Rockwell, Robert Rauschenberg and Morris Graves. 

Wyeth has been a much sought out artist of chose for other venues as well.  “Harper’s” hired Jamie as court artist for the Water Gate Hearings and later trials. The Kennedy Family commissioned an unofficial posthumous portrait of JFK. It was brilliantly executed from the inspiration of photos and video depicting a young Kennedy perhaps at the time of the Bay of Pigs. The expression was something of introspection and possible indecision. The family for the most part was not pleased but over time public acceptance won out. It is considered one of the best depictions of the former president known.

Recently Jamie has been working on a series of his own provocation, his borderline surreal, often dreamlike seascapes. These images are coming to him within his actual night’s dreaming. The waters are choppy, rough and stormy. The wet rocky edges of the seas are often depicted with figures standing calmly watching the spectacle of it all. The figures just happen to be those of many whom he has known in life that left their individual marks on him. His father; Andrew and his grandfather, N.C. are depicted closest to land’s end and perhaps surprisingly the figure of Andy Warhol at a further distance;watching, almost hidden in the background trees. They are the residents of these strange hypnotic worlds. These are the most visionary and symbolic of any of Jamie’s works, especially when considering those of his earlier years.  These works are a definite departure from the quiet and serenity of the majority of his pieces.

At the end of the day and much has been said Jamie Wyeth’s works are most solidly “American” in form and character. At once the speaking of his vivid, painterly voice. His paintings are robust, no-nonsense, strong pieces that seem to spring up from the very earth and sky becoming the incredible things they are.  Wyeth knows himself, his history and his work as well and much better than most. He is yet a rare talent and blessed with an inherited legacy few can match. We are all the better for the inspiration of his life and works. We continue and will always admire his gifts and giving.