Andrew Wyeth: A Journal of Reality

Andrew Wyeth is one of America’s distinguished painters – over his long career he was celebrated as a champion of realism – he raised more ire than the radical artists of the avant-garde – his Helga suite was scathingly censored – his achievement is controversial.  

This illustrated lecture is a glimpse of the watercolor paintings and meticulous egg temperas of Wyeth’s world – the rolling, verdant hills of Chadds Ford Pennsylvania and the rugged coast of Cushing Maine – Wyeth’s intimate family – his lifelong African-American friends – his immediate neighbors.

The art of Wyeth is rich, diverse – art seemingly tranquil – art that vibrates eerily with death, secrecy and sensuality – art that combines mad freedom with truth.

Andrew Wyeth considered himself “an eye hovering above his existence”.

Egon Schiele: Bad Boy of Art

Egon Schiele laced his drawings and paintings with fierce expressionism of sexuality or death. His art expresses the melancholy and anguish of living that murmured within him – art from the depths of his fevered soul.  

Egon Schiele combines flesh, bones, muscles and tendons in a distinctive symbolism of desire and physical abandonment. Repulsion and attraction sound the keynote of this artist’s oeuvre.

Egon Schiele died tragically at the age of 28 limiting our assessment of his art to ten years. Initially in Vienna, Schiele was viewed as a trinity of Klimt, Kokoschka and Schiele. Today he is regarded as a separate figure – a master of Austrian Expressionism.

Georgia O’Keeffe: Flower Power

The New York Times described her as “the undisputed doyenne of American painting” in 1986 when she died at the age of 98.  

Georgia O’Keeffe’s first memories were of light sitting on a patchwork quilt and the feeling of warm, soft ridges of earth made by the wheels of buggies – Georgia O’Keeffe at an early age had a sense of colour and shape.

Generations have been stunned, awed and confused by her work asking the same questions and coming to the same incorrect conclusions.

This slideshow / lecture will focus on the fearless, modest woman and her own highly refined, slightly removed art.

“ I am a Painter. I am not a woman Painter.”

On The Wing: Angels in Art

Angels are seemingly everywhere – on greeting cards, on postage stamps, on television, at the cinema and in the decorative arts. Popular imagination has held fast to its fascination with them. At the dawn of the twenty-first century angels have gained a foothold in the popular culture. Our ideas about what angels are, how they look, how they dress, their character, have been largely formed by artistic vignettes, by artist’s renderings.  

This engaging slideshow and lecture spotlights angels drawn from centuries of art. Gain an understanding of angels while observing alluring art. Delve into the artistic and scholarly aspect of each artist’s work. View Byzantine angels – medieval angels – renaissance angels – contemporary angels – musical angels – angels as messengers, warriors and frolicking childlike angels.

“May an angel watch over you and always light your way.”

Painting the American Aspect

Created in the heart of the Great Depression the WPA supported thousands of artists thus some of the best scenes of the nation were created – some noble, some absurd – portraying the spirit of the 1930’s.  

Artists rediscovered their heritage – social history and creative genius in touch – the artists crossed the country painting the ravages of the depression, the dust bowl landscapes, the simple barns, the New York Bowery, industrial complexes, crowded ghettoes; all the art – human, native and alive.

In this slideshow with lecture, you will observe the works of the Regionalists and the social realists; Thomas Hart Benton, Ben Shahn, John Steuart Curry, Reginald Marsh, Raphael Soyer, Philip Evergood…