Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life – The Definitive Biography Revealing the Turbulent Obsession Behind an Iconic American Realist Painter
Language: English
Published by Harper Perennial, New York, NY, 1998
- Softcover
- Used
Seller: Shelf Control, Bainbridge Island, WA, U.S.A.Shelf Control
AbeBooks seller since August 19, 2026
Condition: Used - Very good
£ 7.78
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Condition: Very Good. Trade Paperback. Cover rubbing and surface scratches, edge wear, and creasing at the corners, most pronounced at the lower front corner. Spine intact; binding sound. Pages clean and unmarked, with light toning to the page edges. Includes color and black-and-white reproductions of paintings and drawings, and an index of painting titles. Listing photos show the exact copy included in this sale. Biography of American realist painter Andrew Wyeth, emphasizing the family pressures, grief, and personal attachments behind his paintings. His father, illustrator N. C. Wyeth, exerted a powerful influence as parent and teacher; his sudden death became a lasting source of imagery. Betsy Wyeth’s contributions as business partner and creative collaborator form part of the account of their difficult marriage. Christina Olson, Helga Testorf, and Karl and Anna Kuerner receive substantial attention as individuals whose relationships with the artist help explain his choice of subjects. Their homes and surroundings in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and Cushing, Maine, establish the intimate geography of his work. A major research source for Christina Baker Kline’s novel A Piece of the World.…
Seller Inventory # W_393
- Title
- Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life – The Definitive Biography Revealing the Turbulent Obsession Behind an Iconic American Realist Painter
- Author
- Meryman, Richard
- Publisher
- Harper Perennial, New York, NY
- Publication year
- 1998
- Condition
- Very good
- Binding
- Soft cover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0060929219
- ISBN 13
- 9780060929213
- Printing
- 4th Printing
- Item weight
- 1.55 pounds
- Dimensions
- 6.5 inches width by 9 inches height by 1 inch depth
- Seller catalogs
- Art Books, Art History, Arts & Photography Books, Biographies, Biographies & Autobiographies, Painting
- Geoffrey C. Ward
At its most fundamental level, this stunning and unique biography describes a distinguished painter's enterprise of transmitting emotion onto a flat surface. It explores all the factors that have combined to create Andrew Wyeth -- his childhood in a hothouse of creativity; his hypersensitivity; his formidable wife; his identification with people marginalized and misunderstood -- all which have made him an American icon. In the process, his realist works in watercolor and tempera, including the famous "Christina's World," have gained him a special and secure niche in the history of American art.
The book is a portrait of obsession -- how single-mindedness has affected Wyeth's relationships and transformed his world into a realm of secrecy and fervid imagination. Those who read this book will never look at Wyeth's work as they did before. It reveals the artist's dark depths, as well as the ruthless, angry, child/man fantasist who paints the basic brutalities of existence -- death and madness --that vibrate eerily beneath his pictures' calm surfaces.
Richard Meryman's narrative is almost novelistic, with its larger-than-life characters and subplots: the tragedy of C.C. Wyeth; Betsy Wyeth's campaign for independence and individuality; the byzantine 15-year-long drama of the Helga paintings; the eccentric and creative Wyeth clan; and the idiosyncratic land and people of Maine and Pennsylvania.
Based on 30 years of research, frequent visits and countless conversations with the artist, his family, friends, admirers and critics, Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life is the only book about the man and the artist that gets behind his carefully guarded screen, tells the full story of his life and reveals his complex personality and the motivations for his paintings.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Meryman and his wife live in New York.
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shelf Control
Bainbridge Island, WA, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since August 19, 2026
Shipping rates within U.S.A.
| Item | 5 to 14 business days | 5 to 8 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 0.00 | £ 6.80 |
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An independent online bookseller offering a varied, deliberately selected inventory of fiction, nonfiction, collectible editions, advance reading copies, reference works, and other books chosen for their quality, interest, or unusual subject matter. We keep our inventory selective rather than building a large catalog of commonplace titles. Each book is individually examined and conservatively graded, with attention given to edition, printing, notable attributes, and condition. Listings describe the actual copy offered for sale, and photographs are provided whenever useful for evaluating condition or collectible features. Orders are carefully packaged, shipped promptly, and include tracking. Our focus is accurate descriptions, careful handling, and dependable service.…
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Shelf Control
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