Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth: A Conversation with Andrew Wyeth

If you want a better understanding of Wyeth's artistic process, this book is definitely for you. Wyeth's thoughtful and informative insights into the creation of his art are the reason this book is important. Despite Hoving's fawning and questions that lack depth, the book is a marvelous look at this artist's approach to a variety subjects. Wyeth explains with passion and depth why he chose different scenes, the gradual evolution of his concepts, and the reason a particular medium (watercolor, drybrush, tempera, etc.) was chosen to complete the work. Focusing on his work in Maine and Pennsylvania, Wyeth takes you through his process from first conceptual sketches to finished work, clearly relating his process to the reader in a concise and revealing manner. The emphasis here is on the art, with a wide variety of work discussed and displayed. The one flaw was the book could easily have been edited to eliminate the questions and allow Wyeth to ruminate unencumbered by the clumsiness of these interruptions.

I found this book at friends' at least fifteen years ago, then I immediately ordered several other copies from the Metropolitan Museum in order to give them to the people I loved most. It introduced me to AW (unfortunately almost unknown in Europe) and to his unique vision as a contemporary painter, which reminded me of the same kind of emotion I had some time before, by viewing Terrence Malick's first two films : Bad Lands & Days of Heaven... A major book on a major artist in Magic Realism, who is a poet aswell, and a philosopher--not to mention the wonderful person to be discovered by reading this basic companion titled : Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth.