Andrew Wyeth, 1917-2009

The summer before last, we visited the Farnsworth Art Museum and Wyeth Center in Rockland, Maine. I'm afraid I'd succumbed to what I considered a highbrow prejudice against Wyeth as, at best, a very talented reactionary. Seeing his work up close quickly dispelled that notion. One painting, an interior scene in an old house as I recall, he described (according to the panel accompanying it) as "very abstract". How true.

Wyeth died today at the age of 91. The video above was made on his 80th birthday. In it, he touches on what is meant by "abstraction."

Take a walk with me.

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn to Manhattan, from the Cadman Plaza entrance to the East Tower, Tuesday morning, January 13, 2009.