Wyeth, the latest documentary in the PBS American Masters series, takes on the odd case of the great painter Andrew Wyeth and explores the question, what is a muse? And how can great art come from the most unlikely and obscure subjects?
Every artist has a source of inspiration, and it’s amazing that Wyeth was able to find his while living an unusually parochial life. Choosing not to “see the world”, Wyeth spent his entire life in two rural settings – his childhood home in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. and his summer coastal home in Cushing, Maine. Fortunately, some of his neighbors allowed him to hang around and watch them in their daily lives. Wyeth would then pad along home to his studio and churn out hundreds of finely detailed paintings from what he remembered.
In doing so, he rendered iconic some very unlikely subjects by painting them again and again – a disabled neighbor woman, a stolid farmer, an alcoholic eccentric.
We learn that Wyeth could spend all of his time on his two obsessions – studying the locals and painting them – because of his wife Betsy. From age 17, Betsy managed Wyeth’s business, household and family, freeing him to devote every thought to the artistic process.
That’s why it was so shocking when Wyeth revealed fifteen years’ work – over 200 paintings, many erotic – with a subject Betsy had known nothing about.
Wyeth draws upon rich source material, including never-before-seen family photos and artifacts, and we meet Wyeth’s family members, neighbors and subjects, and visit the actual homes where Wyeth studied his subjects.
Wyeth will be airing on the PBS American Masters series beginning on September 7.