heyitstords:Andrew WyethChristina’s World (1948)Tempera on panelAndrew Wyeth painted the landscape,
heyitstords:Andrew WyethChristina’s World (1948)Tempera on panelAndrew Wyeth painted the landscape, objects, and residents of two places: his village of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania and the area around the neighboring coastal villages of Maine, where he spent his summers. Anna Christina Olson, the woman in this painting, was his neighbor. A neuromuscular degenerative disease had left her unable to walk. She refused to use a wheelchair and preferred to crawl, using her arms to drag her lower body along. When he saw her dragging herself across her family’s yard, he was inspired to make a painting conveying her untameable spirit by combining direct observation with imagination. While he faithfully depicted her fragile body, he replaced her family’s yard with a vast field. “Christina’s world is, because of her physical handicap, outwardly limited — but in this painting I tried to convey how unlimited it really is,” Wyeth wrote.This work depicts a young woman seen from behind, wearing a pink dress and lying in a grassy field. At first glance, she seems to be in a “position of repose”. However, her torso, propped on her arms, is alert. Her silhouette is tense, giving the impression that she is fixed to the ground. She stares at a distant farmhouse and a group of outbuildings.“The challenge to me was to do justice to her extraordinary conquest of a life which most people would consider hopeless,“ Wyeth explained.The title of the artwork indicates that the painting is more a psychological landscape than a portrait. It is a portrayal of a state of mind rather than a place. Much like this painting, I hope we all realize that there is still a big world out there, waiting to be discovered. Cheers,Tords -- source link
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