The first major retrospective of American artist Jamie Wyeth is currently open at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), showcasing 109 works from six decades of Wyeth’s work. The exhibit is open through Dec. 28.
The exhibition displays paintings, works on paper, illustrations and objects in a range of “combined mediums”––Wyeth’s preferred term for the distinctive technique he brings to many of his compositions.
Wyeth began his artistic career at a young age, though he left formal artistic education at age 11. He studied anatomy in a New York City morgue and worked in Andy Warhol’s studio, The Factory.
The exhibition includes portraits made during his time in New York to landscapes of the worlds he inhabits in the Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maine.
Organized into several themes, the exhibition includes portraits of subjects such as President John F. Kennedy, dancer Rudolf Nureyev and Arnold Schwarzenegger. They are shown alongside a selection of preparatory drawings and studies that offer a window into the artist’s approach to portraiture.
Still-lifes of pumpkins, images inspired by his participation in NASA’s “Eyewitness to Space” program, and his scenes of The Seven Deadly Sins as enacted by seagulls display Wyeth’s range.
Jamie Wyeth is a third-generation artist––including his grandfather, Newell Convers “N.C.” Wyeth (1882-1945); his father, Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009); and his aunt, Carolyn Wyeth (1909-1994).
The exhibition is on view in the Lois and Michael Torf Gallery at the MFA, 465 Huntington Ave. For more information, see mfa.org.
Artist Jamie Wyeth poses with his portrait of John F. Kennedy. (Photo Courtesy MFA)
From press materials.