Henry Adams, professor of American art, wrote the catalogue essay for a major exhibition of work by the Wyeth Family—N. C., Andrew and Jamie Wyeth—that just opened in Paris at the Mona Bismark Foundation. The exhibit has received glowing press, including an enthusiastic review in the famous French newspaper Figaro.
Celebrated for his iconic painting Christina’s World, one of the best known images of the 20th century, Andrew Wyeth was elected to the French academy, where he took the place formerly occupied by Field Marshall Montgomery. But his work has been exhibited only once before in France, in a small show at the gallery of the dealer Claude Bernard in June 1980. Works by his father, the famed illustrator N. C. Wyeth, and his son, Jamie Wyeth, have never before been seen in France.
The saga of the Wyeth family stands out as unique in the history of American art. No other family has produced nationally significant painters in three successive generations.
Before the artist’s death, Adams published a catalogue on Andrew Wyeth’s drawings, Master Drawings from the Artist’s Collection (2006), as well as an article on Wyeth in Smithsonian magazine, and an interview with him that was published in The Plain Dealer. The catalogue of the Paris exhibition contains the first major statement by Jamie Wyeth, Andrew’s son, on his family legacy since his father’s death.