FARNSWORTH ART MUSEUM: PART 2
Three Generations of Wyeths
The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland is a center, along with the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, Pa., for the artwork of three generations of Wyeths. A former church building houses almost exclusively Wyeth paintings and sculptures, while the contemporary building has a variety of different exhibits, often one highlighting one Wyeth or another.
The featured exhibit this year is Jamie Wyeth Unsettled. It’s a collection of his eerie, sometimes spooky, and outright ghoulish paintings from several decades. I didn’t love this exhibit. Some images I found too graphic and very disturbing, but I’m including a few works I did appreciate.
There’s also a small exhibit of abstract watercolors by Andrew Wyeth, father of Jamie and probably the most famous of the Wyeth threesome.
N. C. WYETH
In a separate exhibit of works associated with Maine, I was struck by an action-filled painting by the first Wyeth, Newell Convers, known as N. C. He lived from 1882-1945 and was both a painter and an illustrator. He illustrated a series of Scribner’s classics, and he is likely best known for that work. Born, raised, and educated in art in Massachusetts, Wyeth then moved to Chadds Ford where he made his lifelong home.
There is so much suggested motion in this Port Clyde painting with the flock of birds surrounding the fisherman while he calmly guts the fish. I also like the soft light and the almost pastel colors.
JAMIE WYETH: HAUNTED, SUPERNATURAL, STRANGE
Jamie Wyeth Unsettled is a large exhibit divided into three sections. They are “Strangers and Specters,” “Haunted Places and Disturbing Spaces,” and “The Natural and Supernatural Worlds.” Paintings of indoor places and outdoor spaces are sometimes eerie or suggest imprisonment. In others, Wyeth uses bones to depict grotesque scenes, and in still another, an uprooted tree appears distorted into something threatening, possibly evil. It’s a strange collection overall.
ANDREW WYETH: WATERCOLOR STUDIES
Unseen Andrew Wyeth is a small selection of abstract watercolors, a stark contrast to the Jamie Wyeth exhibit. These have never been displayed before and show Wyeth working with shapes and moods in blacks and browns primarily. Some of these pieces were studies for later paintings, but not all of them. For such a representational painter as Andrew Wyeth was, these works show a different side of his aesthetic. Here are two of them I found striking.
SUSTENANCE: MIDCOAST DINING IN ROCKLAND
WATERWORKS RESTAURANT
After an intense morning of art, where does one eat lunch? We used to have a favorite corner grill that produced a good lobster roll, but it closed and became a cannabis shop. Other places we’d tried after that were just ordinary. This time I did some research and discovered WaterWorks on a side street not far from the Farnsworth.
Casual and attractive with lots of tables and a bar, WaterWorks delivered an excellent cup of clam chowder (one of the best we’ve had!) followed by tasty, not greasy, cheese and chicken quesadillas. It was a delicious lunch and just what we needed. Recommended!
Note: Header photo is of the painting, Boothbay Harbor by Edward Redfield, 1937. All photos taken by JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)
