Andrew Wyeth: Autobiography

Customer Reviews:

Andrew Wyeth:Autobiography.......2007-01-16

I purchased this item as a gift for an artist friend, she was very happy with the quality of the reproductions in this book.

Enjoyable read.......2006-11-05

I didn't know a lot about Andrew Wyeths work before reading this book. I had seen the paintings and I liked them a lot, but I didn't know that much about them.

The book is labeled as an autobiography, but its form is not what many might expect. This is not a book consisting of prose with the occasional picture, it is a book that mainly shows Wyeths paintings with a paragraph or two about the paintings below. Written by Wyeth. For some this may not be what they are looking for, but I liked this very much.

It is a very good introduction to Wyeth's paintings and the subject matter he painted. The people, the places and their history. There isn't a lot of information about Wyeth himself in the book. At least not in the sense one would expect from a traditional biopgraphy. But after reading it I feel I know a lot more about both Wyeth and his paintings than a typical art-history or biographical text would give me.

I'd be happy to recommend this book.

one of the best.......2005-04-03

My teacher introduced me to Andrew Wyeth's paintings and drawings about a year or two ago. I've been in love with his work ever since. It's just how beautiful his linework is and how he brings life to the paintings. That is so incredibly rare. There are plenty of portrait artists out there, but I can't think of one that impresses me as much as he does. I think this is because of how well he knew his subjects.

He said drawing with pencil helped him get to the core of a thing. If you've ever drawn or painted people and animals from life, as he did, it increases the appreciation for his work one hundred fold. I also think that this is why his paintings and sketches are so full of life - you just don't get that from a photo, there is NO comparison. His landscapes blow me away every time, and I'm not really a fan of landscape paintings. Something about the solitude of it all just takes me in.

My favourite is Night Sleeper, which is on the cover. His palette is just beautiful, i don't really think it's muted or drab - the closer you look, the more colours you see. How he played colours in juxtaposition, so that they glow, is another part that gives his work such intensity and life.

The comments beside all the work are, as people have mentioned, very good. The entire book is one of those slow joy books. It's just nice to sit with it and turn the pages slowly and take in every thing.

American Legend.......2002-09-30

I especially appreciate the format of ANDREW WYETH. Examples of Wyeth's work are arranged chronologically throughout the book accompanied by comments in a conversational style by the artist about each individual painting. Much of the commentary is about those special places which the artist loves in both Pennsylvania and Maine as well as about his friends, neighbors and members of the Wyeth clan. The separate chronologies of Wyeth's personal life and his exhibitions are extremely helpful. I recommend this book to admirers of the artist and also to those who are just becoming acquainted with Wyeth. He is truly an American legend.

A biography in pictures.......2001-05-23

This is a book that will give any Wyeth fan pleasure. When I finally got a copy, it was wish fullfillment. To see 138 of the artist's works with his own comments is a great pleasure. And some of the comments are quite provocative! The prints are top quality and follow the artist's career chronologically. The book also includes a personal chronology of Andrew Wyeth's life, as well as exibitions and a bibliography for those who want to know more. Definitely a keeper!

Average customer rating:

A great biography
Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life
Could not put this book down, thinking of reading it again now I've finished it...
Answers to My Questoins Found Here
Andrew Wyeth is a dirty old man

Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life
Richard Meryman
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0060171138

Amazon.com

Andrew Wyeth's achievement is unmatched by other modern American realist painters: he produced canvasses that became American icons, deepening our sense of the possibilities of representational painting in an abstract age. This biography, produced by family friend Richard Meryman, who first wrote about Wyeth for Life magazine in 1964, takes in not only Andrew Wyeth's life but three generations of Wyeths: the peerless illustrator N. C. Wyeth, Andrew's father; Andrew Wyeth; and Jamie, Andrew's son and a successful realist painter in his own right. The "Secret Life" of the title refers in part, of course, to the "Helga" paintings, sketches, drawings, and portraits (many of them in the nude) of Wyeth's neighbor, later his companion and assistant, Helga Testorf. The revelation of the "Helga" series gave the married Wyeth's life, at almost 70, a final dose of drama. This new biography, besides delving deeply into Wyeth's personal life, includes long discussions of almost every Wyeth canvas.

Book Description

"A revelation. No one will ever view Andrew Wyeth's apparently tranquil works the same way again after reading this vivid and astonishing portrait of the turbulent, driven man who paints them. Richard Meryman has written a wonderful book."
-- 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.

Customer Reviews:

A great biography.......2007-01-13

This was a very interesting biography on Andrew Wyeth. I feel this book gave me insight into the artist himself, his wife Betsy and the Wyeth family. This book made me feel familiar with Karl Kuerner, Karl's farm, Christina Olson, Ben Loper and many others which added so much to how I look at the paintings. I feel I see the paintings in a whole different way. I liked the fact that Andrew Wyeth painted his close friends, everyday people and those that we can relate to in our personal lives. I loved the book and am now half way through reading it again.

Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life.......2007-01-11

condition fine. Take some of the statements with a grain of salt.
Not always facctual

Could not put this book down, thinking of reading it again now I've finished it..........2005-10-20

I have recently been studying [privately - I am a painter, not a student] the work of Andrew Wyeth, and so was pleased when I came across this biography of his life. I found it a totally absorbing read, and read the whole [it is long] book cover to cover, which even Rothko's biography failed me on, and I am a great fan of his. Reading a negative review above - Andrew Wyeth is not a dirty old man, and please don't let that reviewer put you off. As an artist, struggling daily with the development of my craft, I found this book riveting. It explained a lot to me about myself [and I am neither old, dirty, nor a man!] and my life as an artist, and my partner's role in that life. The descriptions of Wyeth working, his methods, his relationships with his models [few of which were ever nude, or female], all people he knew, in depth, and loved, in depth. This is a warts and all biography, a thorough and fascinating read. So fascinating, that I feel sorry to have just finished the last page earlier today, and having to return my library copy of the book, I am visiting Amazon to purchase my own copy for my collection. Buy it, borrow it, beg it, read it, even an abstract painter will learn from reading this book. It is about an artist's relationship with his world.

Answers to My Questoins Found Here.......2005-04-21

In a museum about two hours driving from where I live, there was an "Andrew Wyeth Show" where many of his work were shown. I am writing this several days after I saw the show.

To me, the "mystery" was his paintings. Why do they look like more than mere images? Why other realism painting don't catch my attention like those of Wyeth's? His skills as a painter is without a doubt a perfection, but that's not it. What, then, does make his work special?

That was all I wanted to know, and reading Chapters 1 and 2 were enough for me to draw my own conclusion. I found some important keywords that I don't list here because important keywords differ from person to person. I am sure if you read this book with a mission you can find some keywords that helps you - as a painter.

I think that each chapter should have had a name instead of just chapter 2, chapter 3, and so forth because not everybody has time to read this thick book and not everybody is interested in knowing the every detail of the painter. Some chapter had less importance to me, although I am sure they may be important to other people. They were description of his family members and people who had something to do with the painter, but I find them too detail for my purpose of reading.

I think this book can be compressed and will still be as good as it is if compressed wisely. It is too bad that a reader has to read the whole book to see what is written in each chapter. If I was a writer I would have had a chapter for Christina Olson, a chapter for Wyeth as a young person, a chapter for his inspiration, a chapter for the influence from his family especially his father, and so on. That way it is easier to read and go back to where you want to go back to find something that captured your attention. I had to flip pages after pages because the book is not organized.

Andrew Wyeth is a dirty old man.......2003-06-21

After I read the other 5 reviews I wondered if we had read the same book! In this much too revealing biography, Andrew Wyeth comes across as a man with some very real problems. How so? How would you feel about a neighbor of yours in his 70s who would shed all his clothes and drive around naked on a motorcycle at night? How would you feel about the same man streaking with a niece through a boring party? How would you feel about a man who secretly painted a voluptuous blonde model in the nude for 15 years secretly and hid it from his wife? The list could go and on. What readers have to realize as I have is that tremendously gifted men and women can be brilliant at their gifts of genius and yet fall flat on their faces as decent human beings. There is no doubt that Andrew Wyeth is a genius. There are few who can capture the feeling of loneliness, country, the inner soul of his models with such sensitivity and yet can turn into a leering dirty old man, have a mouth that spews forth utter filth and his people skills are of the lowest caliber. Once some people went to see the artist to commission him to paint something for them and by the end of the visit decided against it because of the way he came across.

I recommend Wyeth's early studies from the 50's to the late 60's as examples of egg tempera painting at its highest level but as far as any young artists emulating his life and mannersisms, they should be warned. There have been artists who have been shining examples by their lives- Durer, Rembrandt, Cole and Church come to mind- men who were passionate about their work and living on the highest levels of morality and goodness. An artist does not have to be a flaming reprobate to be a success.

Customer Reviews:

First Impressions: Andrew Wyeth (First Impressions).......2007-01-11

again, take author's statements with a grain of salt
fine condition

andrew wyeth a secret life.......2001-03-23

50 years Bradford Cove has been our summer place. One has a sense of serenity when there and amazement of our natural beauty. I enjoyed the book and believe it to be the best on the wyeths.

Christina Olson: Her World Beyond the Canvas

Average customer rating:

I think that this is a great book and that it should be used

Christina Olson: Her World Beyond the Canvas
Jean Olson Brooks , and Deborah Dalfonso
Manufacturer: Down East Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

I think that this is a great book and that it should be used.......1999-10-20

HELLO, my name is JIll Dalfonso. And yes Deborah is my mother. I really think that this book is great. And not just because she's my mom. My mother spent hours and hours trying to make a plain manuscript into a miraculous book. My mother's other books have been used as teaching guides in other colledges. Ithink that this book is just prefect for this. It has every quality that teachers should look for. I believe that it is intersting for every age and type of reader! Thank You!!!

Wyeth People: A Portrait of Andrew Wyeth As Seen by His Friends and Neighbors

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Wyeth People: A Portrait of Andrew Wyeth As Seen by His Friends and Neighbors
Gene Logsdon
Manufacturer: Taylor Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0878336346

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Wyeth People--Honest, Original, and Groundbreaking

Wyeth People
Gene Logsdon
Manufacturer: Swallow Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life

ASIN: 0804010625

Book Description

Wyeth People is the story of one writer’s search for the meaning of artistic creativity, approached from personal contact with the work of one of the world’s great artists, Andrew Wyeth. In the 1960s, just beginning his career as a writer, Gene Logsdon read a magazine article about Andrew Wyeth in which the artist commented at length on his own creative impulse. What he said seemed so true and right and so directly applicable to writing as well as to painting that the young writer was transfixed. He was resolved to talk to Andrew Wyeth, even though warned that the artist could be as elusive as a wild rabbit. Not quite by accident, the writer and the painter met in a roadside diner, and what happened from then on is what Wyeth People is about—an effort to explain a famous artist, his work, and the people who love it, by an intrigued outsider. Wyeth People is the result of Gene Logsdon’s search to find the colorful people Wyeth painted and to interview them. Originally published in 1969, Wyeth People describes how the author solved the mystery of the creative impulse, at least to his own satisfaction. It is reprinted here in paperback for the first time. As Logsdon writes: “The story of my search for why I (and millions of other people) find Wyeth’s art among the greatest that human culture has produced, is ongoing. I may never fully end my quest. But this I know. I was lucky enough to have participated in some small way in the cultural process by which an artist and his work became a classic part of American tradition."

Customer Reviews:

Wyeth People--Honest, Original, and Groundbreaking.......2006-02-20

I'm in the middle of a Wyeth vs. Hopper research project that takes the better part of a year. While this book was not particularly helpful to my research, it opened me up a bit. This book makes Wyeth's work more real and personal. Truly, one cannot begin to speculate on the master's work before reading this book and understanding who he paints.

This book is not full of critical analysis of his paintings and does not include page after page of color prints we've all seen before. Nor does this act as a biography. Rather this book is groundbreaking in that it examines him through his subjects, in a way. Logsdon spent quite a bit of time in both Pennsylvania and Maine interviewing friends, relatives, acquaintances, and anyone with a connect to Wyeth. One gets an inside look at the characters Wyeth portrayed in The Patriot, The Drifter, and many other portraits. This is a treasure-trove of information that has since been lost as many of Wyeth's subjects have passed on.

This well-written, quick book is for any who could brand themselves a member of "Wyeth People."

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Helga Suite
Keith Winston
Manufacturer: Sound Room Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 1584723645

Book Description

St. Ignatius Loyola is one of the great shapers of the Catholic tradition. The Spanish soldier turned pilgrim for Christ bequeathed not only an extraordinary institutional legacy but also a distinctive spirituality that today nourishes men and women looking for ways to integrate faith and life. Informing Jesuit education, ministry, and training in communities around the world, Ignatian spirituality offers a practical vision—of engaged, responsible, discerning men and women striving to find God in all things—that resonates in this age of transition.

Organized into a daybook for contemplation, Ignatius's words serve as personal spiritual exercises. They touch on a range of topics, from affirmations of God's presence and Christ's love to practical advice for living a life of virtue in service to others. In this accessible gathering, anyone seeking a richer spiritual life will find words that inspire, challenge, enlighten, and transform.

Customer Reviews:

"History is the elongated shadow of great men,".......2006-10-21

wrote Thomas Carlyle.

Ignatius Loyola not only was a great man, but a saint. His influence today is greater than during his life. The network of high schools and universities in the United States (and the rest of the world) speaks to his wisdom and greatness.

The Spanish are justly famous for their aphorisms and there a plenty good ones in this book. Including some I didn't know were first articulated by Igantius.

The engravings in the book are just great! A very nice touch indeed.

Wisdom from the Monastery: The Rule of St. Benedict for Everyday Life

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Same book - different title

Wisdom from the Monastery: The Rule of St. Benedict for Everyday Life
Patrick Barry , Richard Yeo , Kathleen Norris , and and Others
Manufacturer: Liturgical Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0814631533

Book Description

For all who are on a spiritual journey or starting out on a search for meaning in their lives, there is a vast array of competing belief systems, therapies, and guides available. Above the noise and clamor of this busy marketplace, a centuries-old voice speaks words of invitation:

"Who is there with a love of true life and a longing for days of real fulfillment? If you should hear that call and answer `I,' this is the answer that you will receive from God. . . ."

So begins the ancient Rule of St. Benedict, written fifteen hundred years ago as a simple manual for monks living in community together. Because of its gentle wisdom, realism, and depth, the Rule has always stretched beyond the walls of monasteries. Today, growing numbers of men and women are discovering that it can teach them something invaluable about themselves and how to live meaningful lives.

Wisdom from the Monastery contains a contemporary translation of the Rule of St. Benedict and short reflections on the seven basic elements of Benedictine spirituality that are a tried and true recipe for healthy, balanced, and purposeful living.

An ideal place to begin a lifetime of exploration and discovery, Wisdom from the Monastery is an excerpt from The Benedictine Handbook, also available from Liturgical Press.

Customer Reviews:

Same book - different title.......2006-05-23

This book is the Intro, and Chapters One and Two of "The Benedictine Handbook." Since I already own this book, I was disappointed. Mind you, the content of the book (whichever title you go by) is wonderful. However, I would have liked to have known beforehand that this was a shorter version of "The Benedictine Handbook" with a different title.

Apostle in a Top Hat: The Inspiring Story of Frederick Ozanam Founder of the Worldwide Society of St. Vincent De Paul

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Apostle in a Top Hat: The Inspiring Story of Frederick Ozanam Founder of the Worldwide Society of St. Vincent De Paul
James Patrick Derum
Manufacturer: Fidelity Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: B000SE5IRS

Christ, My Companion: Meditations on the Prayer of St. Patrick

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Christ, My Companion: Meditations on the Prayer of St. Patrick
Marilyn Chandler McEntyre
Manufacturer: Baker Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0801071593
Release Date: 2008-07-01

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Devotion to St Patrick
Daughters of St Paul
Manufacturer: Pauline Books & Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Prayer | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0819818534

The Irish Saints: Short Biographies of the Principal Irish Saints From the Time of St. Patrick to That of St. Laurence O'toole.

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The Irish Saints: Short Biographies of the Principal Irish Saints From the Time of St. Patrick to That of St. Laurence O'toole.
Daphne D. C. Pochin Mould
Manufacturer: Clonmore & Reynolds.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: B000UV0L0S

Product Description

A look at over 100 Irish saints. Includes feast days and litanies. 316 pages with index.

Living Our Life Story: Spiritual Transformation in a Turbulent World

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Living Our Life Story: Spiritual Transformation in a Turbulent World
John P. Moran
Manufacturer: Lightsmith Multimedia Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0964080699

Saint Patrick (St. Joseph Picture Books)

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Saint Patrick (St. Joseph Picture Books)

Manufacturer: Catholic Book Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I90Q9S

Product Description

An illustrated children's story of the inspirational St. Patrick which goes way beyond the St. Patrick's Day story. Stories of miracles and trust in God.

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The Spirituality of St. Patrick
Lesley Whiteside
Manufacturer: Columba Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1856071464

The Wisdom of St. Patrick (The Wisdom of series)

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The Wisdom of St. Patrick (The Wisdom of series)
Justin Butcher
Manufacturer: Lion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0745944000

Book Description

Part of "The Wisdom of" series, this text presents short, accessible extracts from St. Patrick designed to appeal to all. Arranged under 30 headings for daily reading, the text is interspersed with color paintings and decorations to aid meditation.

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