WEBVTT 00:10.866 --> 00:15.800 align:left position:37.5%,start line:0% size:62.5% ♪♪ 00:21.866 --> 00:24.133 align:left position:37.5%,start line:0% size:62.5% ♪♪ 00:24.533 --> 00:29.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -He paints the soul, not just an image. 00:29.966 --> 00:32.766 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -That was what was amazing about my father. 00:32.800 --> 00:35.700 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% He saw things that other people just wouldn't see. 00:35.733 --> 00:37.100 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% [ Creaks ] 00:37.133 --> 00:41.600 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -He had almost a painful sensitivity. 00:41.633 --> 00:44.366 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -The abstraction in his pictures. 00:44.400 --> 00:46.700 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% The fantastic compositional sense. 00:46.733 --> 00:48.133 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% And the toughness in them. 00:48.166 --> 00:49.433 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% [ Pencil scratching ] 00:49.466 --> 00:51.066 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% In some ways the sadness, 00:51.100 --> 00:53.133 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% the meditations on death and nature... 00:53.166 --> 00:55.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% [ Thunder rumbles ] 00:55.066 --> 00:56.733 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% ...they're so 20th century. 00:56.766 --> 00:59.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -There's a darkness to Andrew Wyeth's work. 00:59.066 --> 01:00.700 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% There's a drama. 01:00.733 --> 01:03.966 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -If you really look at his work, it's pretty scary stuff. 01:04.000 --> 01:05.800 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% It's kind of like a Robert Frost poem. 01:05.833 --> 01:08.666 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% You could say it's some horse in the woods with a sleigh 01:08.700 --> 01:10.166 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% and the snow, but really read it, 01:10.200 --> 01:13.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% it's a hell of a lot more than that. 01:13.066 --> 01:16.433 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -Make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. 01:16.466 --> 01:20.033 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% And you realize that something more is going on in the world. 01:20.066 --> 01:26.566 align:left position:37.5%,start line:0% size:62.5% ♪♪ 01:26.600 --> 01:28.766 align:left position:25%,start line:0% size:75% [ Bird caws ] 01:28.800 --> 01:32.433 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 01:32.466 --> 01:34.333 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% [ Bird caws ] 01:34.366 --> 01:38.700 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 01:38.733 --> 01:41.433 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -Andrew Wyeth is one of the most highly regarded 01:41.466 --> 01:43.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% of American painters, if not the  most. 01:43.966 --> 01:46.100 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -Andrew Wyeth, leading American artist, 01:46.133 --> 01:47.700 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% is honored at the White House. 01:47.733 --> 01:49.866 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -This is the Whitney Museum in New York. 01:49.900 --> 01:53.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% Normal daily attendance of art lovers, 500. 01:53.033 --> 01:56.800 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% For a recent Wyeth exhibit, the average was 5,000 a day. 01:56.833 --> 01:58.966 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% Attendance records were broken in Philadelphia, 01:59.000 --> 02:00.700 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% Baltimore, and Chicago, too. 02:00.733 --> 02:04.833 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -In the '60s, Andrew Wyeth was the very top artist. 02:04.866 --> 02:06.433 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% He was the artist people talked about. 02:06.466 --> 02:09.200 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -There is something in Wyeth that appeals to the uninitiated 02:09.233 --> 02:11.033 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% and the connoisseur alike. 02:11.066 --> 02:13.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% He has a mass audience that may be greater 02:13.066 --> 02:15.033 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% than any other living artist ever had. 02:15.066 --> 02:18.033 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -In a way, his popular following was a curse. 02:18.066 --> 02:21.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -He had a huge audience, he had many collectors, 02:21.066 --> 02:22.633 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% and he was criticized for that. 02:22.666 --> 02:24.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% -Poor Andrew Wyeth. 02:24.066 --> 02:25.700 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% He has committed the final sins 02:25.733 --> 02:27.200 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% against the art establishment. 02:27.233 --> 02:29.566 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% People like his work, and he's making money now 02:29.600 --> 02:31.700 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% instead of 400 years after his death. 02:31.733 --> 02:35.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -There were lines around the block at the Whitney, 02:35.433 --> 02:38.066 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% but that was also the kiss of death. 02:38.100 --> 02:41.700 align:left position:37.5%,start line:0% size:62.5% ♪♪ 02:41.733 --> 02:45.100 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -I first met the Wyeths in the early '70s. 02:45.133 --> 02:48.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% I came out to Chadds Ford to meet Betsy and Andrew Wyeth, 02:48.566 --> 02:52.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% and found both of them very interesting people. 02:52.566 --> 02:56.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% I think I somehow thought Andrew Wyeth 02:56.566 --> 03:01.366 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% would be more of a bumpkin, or a hermit or a farmer type, 03:01.400 --> 03:04.133 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% but what I found was somebody who served me 03:04.166 --> 03:06.666 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% the strongest cocktail I'd had in a long time, 03:06.700 --> 03:08.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% who made me laugh, 03:08.400 --> 03:12.300 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% and I found his wife beautiful, but also very clearly, 03:12.333 --> 03:14.766 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% I was going to have to win her approval, 03:14.800 --> 03:18.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% because she wanted only the best for Andrew Wyeth. 03:18.166 --> 03:21.700 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% But I also came away thinking this is a much more complicated 03:21.733 --> 03:25.700 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and interesting artist than I think I know 03:25.733 --> 03:28.900 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% from what's been written about him in the past. 03:28.933 --> 03:31.200 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 03:31.233 --> 03:35.166 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -One thing that stands out about Andrew Wyeth's work 03:35.200 --> 03:39.433 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% in contrast to the work of most of his contemporaries 03:39.466 --> 03:44.833 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% is that he grew up and lived in two places and two places alone 03:44.866 --> 03:48.700 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% during a long and productive life as an artist -- 03:48.733 --> 03:52.133 align:left position:25%,start line:0% size:75% Chadds Ford... 03:52.166 --> 03:53.300 align:left position:25%,start line:0% size:75% [ Bell clangs ] 03:53.333 --> 03:56.266 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% ...Port Clyde and Cushing. 03:56.300 --> 03:58.266 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% The places that define his life 03:58.300 --> 04:03.000 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% were these two rural communities. 04:03.033 --> 04:07.166 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% New York was the center of the art world. 04:07.200 --> 04:11.833 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% That was not Andy's world. 04:11.866 --> 04:14.166 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% -Painting to me 04:14.200 --> 04:16.600 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% is a matter of truth 04:16.633 --> 04:21.266 align:left position:37.5%,start line:0% size:62.5% and... 04:21.300 --> 04:25.100 align:left position:25%,start line:0% size:75% maybe of memory. 04:25.133 --> 04:28.933 align:left position:37.5%,start line:0% size:62.5% ♪♪ 04:28.966 --> 04:33.800 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -He had an extraordinary childhood. 04:33.833 --> 04:37.700 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% Most artists struggle to find themselves as artists. 04:37.733 --> 04:41.600 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% Wyeth was raised from childhood to be an artist -- 04:41.633 --> 04:43.466 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% Protected, cultivated. 04:43.500 --> 04:46.233 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% I think of him like an Olympic athlete. 04:46.266 --> 04:49.066 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% N.C. Wyeth, his dad, developed him, 04:49.100 --> 04:51.066 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% trained him, encouraged him. 04:51.100 --> 04:56.400 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% -He taught me everyday living, seeing things around me. 04:56.433 --> 05:01.633 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% Seeing the imagination of what you can make out of nothing. 05:01.666 --> 05:06.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -N.C. Wyeth was a famous classic illustrator. 05:06.166 --> 05:10.400 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% He painted big, bold illustrations. 05:10.433 --> 05:14.366 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% Scribner's Books was one of his major clients. 05:14.400 --> 05:18.100 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% He churned out all the classics -- "Robinson Crusoe," 05:18.133 --> 05:20.700 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% "The Boy's King Arthur." 05:20.733 --> 05:24.066 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% -He and his wife ended up having a family of five children. 05:24.100 --> 05:26.833 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% There were three girls and two boys. 05:26.866 --> 05:29.166 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% It was a very creative family. 05:29.200 --> 05:32.666 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% Henriette, Carolyn, and Andrew would become painters, 05:32.700 --> 05:37.333 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% Nat, a chemical engineer, and Ann, a composer. 05:37.366 --> 05:41.333 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -N.C. Wyeth thought that creative adults 05:41.366 --> 05:44.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% retained the spirit of childhood. 05:44.233 --> 05:49.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -N.C. had an ability to transform ordinary occurrences 05:49.033 --> 05:50.866 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% into bigger and better drama 05:50.900 --> 05:53.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% than they might have held themselves. 05:53.400 --> 05:56.833 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -The Christmases that he created for his children. 05:56.866 --> 05:59.400 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% He would dress as Santa Claus. 05:59.433 --> 06:02.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% It wasn't the traditional St. Nick that we know. 06:02.400 --> 06:05.033 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% And he had a rather grotesque mask. 06:05.066 --> 06:08.600 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -Old Kris, as we called him, was to me a terrifying man. 06:08.633 --> 06:10.300 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% He was a big man. 06:10.333 --> 06:13.600 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% And I remember when I was about 8 years old lying in bed 06:13.633 --> 06:17.966 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% and we heard stamping feet on the top of the roof. 06:18.000 --> 06:21.766 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% And I was terrified... 06:21.800 --> 06:25.300 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% to the point that I wet the bed. 06:25.333 --> 06:29.300 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% I just tell you that story 'cause that's how he believed 06:29.333 --> 06:32.366 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% in exciting our imaginations. 06:32.400 --> 06:34.733 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -N.C. Wyeth built this studio, 06:34.766 --> 06:39.600 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% which is literally 25 steps away from the house. 06:39.633 --> 06:42.066 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -The studio was full of props 06:42.100 --> 06:45.466 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that N.C. Wyeth needed as an illustrator. 06:45.500 --> 06:48.066 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% There are swords. There are guns here. 06:48.100 --> 06:52.433 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% There were a lot of costumes -- Robin Hood, King Arthur. 06:52.466 --> 06:55.600 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% So these were all available to the children. 06:55.633 --> 06:59.533 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -And I made up my own stories of what was happening around me. 06:59.566 --> 07:03.633 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% These hills became Sherwood Forest, 07:03.666 --> 07:05.633 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% the English countryside, 07:05.666 --> 07:08.366 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% or the battlefields of France. 07:08.400 --> 07:12.400 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% All these imaginary things floated through my mind. 07:12.433 --> 07:14.033 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% [ Bird calling ] 07:14.066 --> 07:16.200 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 07:16.233 --> 07:19.300 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -One of the things that most fascinated Andrew Wyeth 07:19.333 --> 07:22.466 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% was the amount of World War I objects 07:22.500 --> 07:24.533 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% that were here in the studio. 07:24.566 --> 07:27.733 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% N.C. Wyeth saved a lot of photographs 07:27.766 --> 07:31.966 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% of the battlefields in France, the trenches, 07:32.000 --> 07:34.333 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% villages that had been totally bombed. 07:34.366 --> 07:36.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% [ Projectiles whistling, explosions ] 07:36.033 --> 07:38.333 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% [ Gunfire ] 07:38.366 --> 07:44.133 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -N.C. Wyeth also had in the studio boxes of stereo cards, 07:44.166 --> 07:47.600 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% two images taken by a dual camera. 07:47.633 --> 07:50.733 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% He would put these in a hand-held machine, 07:50.766 --> 07:53.500 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% the two images on the card would come into focus, 07:53.533 --> 07:58.666 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% so you would have this amazing 3-D image in front of you. 07:58.700 --> 07:59.766 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% [ Propeller whirring, gunfire ] 07:59.800 --> 08:01.800 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% Really, the horror of the war 08:01.833 --> 08:06.333 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% is absolutely displayed in these images. 08:06.366 --> 08:09.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% Young Andrew Wyeth would sit in the studio here 08:09.033 --> 08:10.333 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% and page through them. 08:10.366 --> 08:12.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% [ Explosions, gunfire ] 08:12.400 --> 08:14.233 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -He collected these small soldiers 08:14.266 --> 08:15.633 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% which were made in Germany -- 08:15.666 --> 08:19.233 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and German soldiers and American soldiers. 08:19.266 --> 08:21.733 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -I can look at those soldiers and remember the names 08:21.766 --> 08:24.166 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% of practically every one of them, 08:24.200 --> 08:26.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% make up my own stories. 08:26.433 --> 08:30.666 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 08:30.700 --> 08:32.766 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -"The Big Parade," the movie by King Vidor, 08:32.800 --> 08:34.300 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% which he saw as a child, 08:34.333 --> 08:38.433 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% he was deeply influenced by that film. 08:38.466 --> 08:39.966 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% [ Bombs whistling ] 08:40.000 --> 08:42.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% [ Loud explosions ] 08:42.233 --> 08:46.666 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% I, myself, watched it at least 30 times with him. 08:46.700 --> 08:49.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% He watched it probably over 200 times. 08:49.966 --> 08:52.366 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% So, you know, that's kind of more than just liking a movie. 08:52.400 --> 08:56.266 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -The French girl trying to find him in the crowd, 08:56.300 --> 09:00.933 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% and the motion of carriages going, and her figure there. 09:00.966 --> 09:06.566 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% I thought it was very dramatic leaving her lone figure there 09:06.600 --> 09:09.966 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% against that rather -- that painted background. 09:10.000 --> 09:15.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% But interesting, what you can do with almost nothing. 09:15.066 --> 09:21.733 align:left position:37.5%,start line:0% size:62.5% ♪♪ 09:21.766 --> 09:28.466 align:left position:37.5%,start line:0% size:62.5% ♪♪ 09:28.500 --> 09:35.166 align:left position:37.5%,start line:0% size:62.5% ♪♪ 09:35.200 --> 09:39.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% -This is the house where my father met my mother. 09:39.966 --> 09:43.333 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% Ma's father was a newspaper editor. 09:43.366 --> 09:45.733 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% And he had heard of N.C. Wyeth, 09:45.766 --> 09:48.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and he called upon him in Port Clyde. 09:48.966 --> 09:52.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And when he was there, he met my father, 09:52.033 --> 09:53.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and he told my father, he said, "You know, 09:53.433 --> 09:55.433 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% I've got three attractive daughters." 09:55.466 --> 09:58.333 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% So, my father, on his birthday, a few days later, 09:58.366 --> 10:01.033 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% drove over here, knocked on the door, 10:01.066 --> 10:04.233 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% and met my mother. 10:04.266 --> 10:06.066 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -Betsy said, "You know, Mary, 10:06.100 --> 10:10.600 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% when I was being courted by Andrew Wyeth, 10:10.633 --> 10:13.733 align:left position:25%,start line:0% size:75% it was a wild, passionate courtship. 10:13.766 --> 10:17.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% I received letters from him every day. 10:17.033 --> 10:18.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% Sometimes two a day. 10:18.966 --> 10:21.433 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% They had drawings in them, 10:21.466 --> 10:24.233 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% and I came home and we were married. 10:24.266 --> 10:26.733 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% And then we went up to Maine. 10:26.766 --> 10:30.166 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And we had fun on a boat for a little while, 10:30.200 --> 10:34.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and then -- pshoo -- right back into the studio. 10:34.166 --> 10:39.233 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% And I realized I came second to his paintings. 10:39.266 --> 10:44.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And I had to choose to be with him or not." 10:44.166 --> 10:48.700 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 10:48.733 --> 10:51.666 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -My father had absolutely zero interest 10:51.700 --> 10:54.700 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% in money or possessions. 10:54.733 --> 10:57.066 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And so she took all those elements out of his work. 10:57.100 --> 11:00.566 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% I think, when he started to have a degree of success and whatnot, 11:00.600 --> 11:02.666 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% she made sure that it wasn't going to impinge 11:02.700 --> 11:04.300 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% on what he wanted to do, 11:04.333 --> 11:06.800 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% and all he wanted to do was paint. 11:06.833 --> 11:09.400 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -Andrew Wyeth would not be Andrew Wyeth without Betsy. 11:09.433 --> 11:12.066 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -At the young age of 18 years old, 11:12.100 --> 11:15.266 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% Betsy became Andrew's manager. 11:15.300 --> 11:16.966 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% -She was self-taught. 11:17.000 --> 11:20.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% When he had a dealer, Robert Macbeth, 11:20.033 --> 11:22.233 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% it's interesting to see some of the early letters 11:22.266 --> 11:27.800 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% of this young 18-, 19-year-old questioning the commission 11:27.833 --> 11:32.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that they were paying on some of Andy's work. 11:32.233 --> 11:35.266 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -She was the one that was very strict on him, 11:35.300 --> 11:37.133 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% forced him to, as she would say, 11:37.166 --> 11:39.466 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% "work on it until it couldn't be better." 11:39.500 --> 11:41.700 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% I think that charged him. 11:41.733 --> 11:44.566 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -He was very dependent on her eye. 11:44.600 --> 11:48.700 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -He would bring a painting home and show it to her proudly 11:48.733 --> 11:50.733 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and hang it on the wall in the mill, 11:50.766 --> 11:53.233 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and they would work on a title together. 11:53.266 --> 11:56.833 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -What a remarkable partnership my mother and father were. 11:56.866 --> 11:58.166 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% I mean, they both were 11:58.200 --> 12:00.766 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% two halves of this remarkable whole. 12:00.800 --> 12:03.733 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 12:03.766 --> 12:07.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -I am just stunned by his technical expertise. 12:07.433 --> 12:11.733 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% He is such a fabulous draftsman. 12:11.766 --> 12:16.300 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -To see his hands actually go through a drawing, 12:16.333 --> 12:19.333 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% he was like a conductor with a symphony. 12:19.366 --> 12:22.833 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -Andy could paint the wind. 12:22.866 --> 12:30.500 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 12:30.533 --> 12:38.200 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 12:38.233 --> 12:45.866 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 12:45.900 --> 12:48.233 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -When Andrew Wyeth's work was first seen, 12:48.266 --> 12:51.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% he had a watercolor show in 1937, 12:51.566 --> 12:54.666 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% when he was all of 20 years old that is said to have sold out 12:54.700 --> 12:56.433 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% in a couple of days. 12:56.466 --> 12:59.800 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -He was a bright and rising young star. 12:59.833 --> 13:03.500 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -For the first 10 years or so of his exhibiting life, 13:03.533 --> 13:05.933 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% he was an artist to keep your eye on. 13:05.966 --> 13:09.166 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% He had very high success in selling, 13:09.200 --> 13:12.533 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% but also critical success. 13:12.566 --> 13:17.366 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 13:17.400 --> 13:19.333 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -My father meant a great deal to me, 13:19.366 --> 13:21.700 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and we had a marvelous time together, 13:21.733 --> 13:24.800 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% not just as a father but as someone to talk to. 13:24.833 --> 13:26.866 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% You know? 13:26.900 --> 13:32.433 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% And I think having him taken away so quickly and abruptly, 13:32.466 --> 13:33.833 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% it really jolted me. 13:33.866 --> 13:35.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% [ Train wheels clacking ] 13:35.166 --> 13:36.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% [ Train whistle blows ] 13:36.233 --> 13:37.333 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% [ Train rumbling ] 13:42.966 --> 13:48.400 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 13:48.433 --> 13:52.100 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -He was up in Maine when N.C. was killed. 13:52.133 --> 13:54.866 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% [ Bell tolls ] 13:54.900 --> 13:59.100 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% The day of the funeral, Andy wanted to see his father, 13:59.133 --> 14:01.900 align:left position:25%,start line:0% size:75% wanted to spend some time alone with him. 14:01.933 --> 14:06.166 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% And Andy said to me, 14:06.200 --> 14:09.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% "I went into that room. 14:09.233 --> 14:11.066 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% The windows were open, 14:11.100 --> 14:16.866 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and I saw the light come across my father's face, 14:16.900 --> 14:21.900 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% and the wind out the windows blowing the leaves." 14:21.933 --> 14:24.100 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 14:24.133 --> 14:28.633 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% Tears are starting to well up as if he's reliving it. 14:28.666 --> 14:30.766 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% He says, "I had to do that -- 14:30.800 --> 14:34.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% to spend time with him. 14:34.033 --> 14:37.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And seeing the beauty of the wind, 14:37.400 --> 14:40.000 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% the light across his face. 14:40.033 --> 14:43.966 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% This is what I'm trying to tell you. 14:44.000 --> 14:45.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% Paint your life history, 14:45.433 --> 14:47.833 align:left position:25%,start line:0% size:75% do the things that mean something to you." 14:47.866 --> 14:51.066 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% And I'm crying now, and he's crying. 14:52.800 --> 14:56.533 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% "Do the things that are your own." 14:58.233 --> 15:00.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% "Paint your life." 15:00.566 --> 15:04.400 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 15:04.433 --> 15:10.333 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -I think that it changed me from just painting pictures 15:10.366 --> 15:13.266 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% into painting a reality with an edge, 15:13.300 --> 15:15.466 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% with a meaning. 15:15.500 --> 15:18.900 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% His death really gave me a meaning to paint. 15:18.933 --> 15:20.066 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% It's a strange thing. 15:20.100 --> 15:26.833 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 15:26.866 --> 15:29.466 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -Andy explained this one time early, early on, 15:29.500 --> 15:32.600 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% coming up over the hill and you see this little farm. 15:32.633 --> 15:35.100 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% And he felt like, you know, he was in Switzerland, 15:35.133 --> 15:38.633 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% just seeing this little farm nestled from the hill. 15:38.666 --> 15:40.233 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% There's an intimacy about this place, 15:40.266 --> 15:43.433 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% there's a magic, the excitement of the unknown. 15:43.466 --> 15:46.433 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -This farm, he'd walk over here from our house, 15:46.466 --> 15:48.100 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% which is just over the hill, 15:48.133 --> 15:51.966 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and just disappear into the Kuerner world. 15:52.000 --> 15:55.800 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% -The Kuerners were tremendously forbearing neighbors 15:55.833 --> 15:59.900 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% in that they just let Andy Wyeth come and go, like a ghost. 15:59.933 --> 16:02.466 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% I mean, he liked it that way. 16:02.500 --> 16:05.666 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -Growing up you would see this figure coming in and out, 16:05.700 --> 16:09.333 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% which would be Andy, observing him living his life, 16:09.366 --> 16:14.100 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% and him observing us living ours. 16:14.133 --> 16:18.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -He didn't really want to upset their daily life. 16:18.066 --> 16:20.333 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% And they just let him creep through the house 16:20.366 --> 16:22.600 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% and then disappear. 16:22.633 --> 16:26.266 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% I think he really enjoyed that voyeuristic aspect. 16:26.300 --> 16:28.366 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% It was fabulous freedom for him, 16:28.400 --> 16:30.666 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% and a sense of his own domain, 16:30.700 --> 16:34.300 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% where he could be like a fly on the wall and watch them. 16:34.333 --> 16:37.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -When I lost my father in an accident, 16:37.400 --> 16:40.533 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% right near where Kuerners lived, 16:40.566 --> 16:43.833 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and I regretted so that I hadn't done his portrait. 16:43.866 --> 16:47.733 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And Karl reminded me of my father in many ways. 16:47.766 --> 16:51.300 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% Karl was a much more Germanic-looking man, 16:51.333 --> 16:55.900 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% but they both had that tough quality, Germanic power. 16:55.933 --> 16:57.533 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 16:57.566 --> 17:01.733 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And I realized that here was my father still alive. 17:01.766 --> 17:03.800 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 17:03.833 --> 17:06.866 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -Karl is a man of hog-butchering and hunting, 17:06.900 --> 17:10.300 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% of guns and knives and no nonsense, 17:10.333 --> 17:11.966 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% a man of the land. 17:12.000 --> 17:16.233 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -He wasn't just a Pennsylvania farmer to me. 17:16.266 --> 17:18.966 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% I mean, I'll be there alone in that house, 17:19.000 --> 17:22.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and now, all of a sudden, a shot will ring out. 17:22.066 --> 17:24.933 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% [ Gunshots ] And it's Karl maybe hunting deer 17:24.966 --> 17:27.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% or maybe he was just target-practicing. 17:27.566 --> 17:29.466 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% And you'll go into his house 17:29.500 --> 17:33.633 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% and you'll see these rifles slung on the wall. 17:33.666 --> 17:36.233 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% There's a military feeling. 17:36.266 --> 17:39.100 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -Karl was a former machine gunner 17:39.133 --> 17:40.966 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% in the German army. 17:41.000 --> 17:42.766 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% And, all of a sudden, it was 17:42.800 --> 17:45.200 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% as if one of his toy soldiers had come to life, 17:45.233 --> 17:48.866 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% because there was Karl Kuerner with his helmet and his medals 17:48.900 --> 17:53.266 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% and his coat and his scars and his battle stories, 17:53.300 --> 17:57.600 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% willing, in his broken English, to speak to Andrew Wyeth. 17:57.633 --> 18:01.600 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -And that was totally part of Wyeth's imagination -- 18:01.633 --> 18:04.933 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% the violence that lurked in his past, 18:04.966 --> 18:09.266 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% that then somehow enacted itself in Karl as a hunter. 18:09.300 --> 18:12.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% That latent violence fascinated Wyeth. 18:12.166 --> 18:16.400 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% He always loved to sort of poke at the dark side. 18:16.433 --> 18:18.433 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -And I think that if you look 18:18.466 --> 18:20.766 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% at the paintings of Kuerners of mine, 18:20.800 --> 18:23.433 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% you'll begin to sense it's not a quaint farm 18:23.466 --> 18:27.133 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% where they work in the garden and they milk their cows. 18:27.166 --> 18:31.600 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% When they slaughter a pig, it's -- it's brutal. 18:31.633 --> 18:34.366 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 18:34.400 --> 18:36.766 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% And I was attracted by this. 18:36.800 --> 18:38.833 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 18:38.866 --> 18:43.466 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% [ Birds chirping ] 18:43.500 --> 18:45.266 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -There are very few places he did this in. 18:45.300 --> 18:47.100 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% He never traveled. [ Goat bleats ] 18:47.133 --> 18:51.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% Never went to Europe, you know, to paint. 18:51.033 --> 18:54.500 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% He wanted to totally tune in to something that he could 18:54.533 --> 18:56.833 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% comprehend and get deeper and deeper and deeper. 18:56.866 --> 18:58.833 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% And then this -- And he'd get thrilled. 18:58.866 --> 19:00.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% I mean, he would tell me he couldn't sleep at night, 19:00.966 --> 19:03.333 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% to get back there the next day to work on something. 19:03.366 --> 19:07.300 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% I mean, we're talking about 50 years of it, you know? 19:07.333 --> 19:09.333 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% Wouldn't you think he'd maybe look for another farm? 19:09.366 --> 19:12.233 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% No, didn't interest him. 19:12.266 --> 19:14.166 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 19:14.200 --> 19:17.666 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% And with Kuerner, even after death, 19:17.700 --> 19:20.166 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% he then did the painting of Karl 19:20.200 --> 19:24.300 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% lying on this hillside as a drift of snow. 19:24.333 --> 19:31.266 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 19:31.300 --> 19:32.633 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% [ Wind blowing ] 19:32.666 --> 19:34.233 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% [ Waves washing shoreline ] 19:34.266 --> 19:40.966 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 19:41.000 --> 19:45.600 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -Maine, to Andy, was like the surface of the moon. 19:45.633 --> 19:52.300 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% Harsh, but it was also...fundamental. 19:52.333 --> 19:55.233 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 19:55.266 --> 19:58.900 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, there are big stone houses, 19:58.933 --> 20:00.866 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% big trees, and whatnot. 20:00.900 --> 20:03.433 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% My father always said, which I think is absolutely true, 20:03.466 --> 20:05.566 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that in Maine, it's as if a wind could come along 20:05.600 --> 20:07.333 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and just -- wshhh -- blow everything away. 20:07.366 --> 20:10.333 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% People are hanging on tenaciously. 20:10.366 --> 20:15.566 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% And to my father, that contrast was important to him. 20:15.600 --> 20:21.733 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -To me, the appeal of Maine is utter simplicity. 20:21.766 --> 20:26.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% The people that live here work off the land or the sea. 20:28.666 --> 20:31.500 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% -The Olson House sits atop a hill, 20:31.533 --> 20:35.500 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% overlooking the water -- the Cushing peninsula. 20:35.533 --> 20:37.733 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% The Olson House is a national historic landmark 20:37.766 --> 20:40.433 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% because of the work that one of America's 20:40.466 --> 20:44.566 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% most important artists did over a 30-year period. 20:45.900 --> 20:48.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% -For a number of years, that's all I painted in Maine, 20:48.566 --> 20:50.566 align:left position:25%,start line:0% size:75% were the Olsons. 20:52.566 --> 20:56.433 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% I could just pour all my thoughts. 20:56.466 --> 21:00.700 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% Imagination ran free because the house was full of 21:00.733 --> 21:03.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% ghosts of the past of New England. 21:03.066 --> 21:04.600 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% I mean, it was unbelievable. 21:04.633 --> 21:07.966 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% They were seafaring people, the Olsons. 21:08.000 --> 21:09.700 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% -The Olsons were poor. 21:09.733 --> 21:12.666 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% They were sustenance farmers. 21:12.700 --> 21:16.466 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% Everyday life was an extraordinary challenge. 21:16.500 --> 21:19.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -Christina was not emotional outwardly. 21:19.433 --> 21:24.233 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% She was perhaps as serene as anyone I have ever known. 21:24.266 --> 21:27.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% And she had great poise and self-confidence, 21:27.433 --> 21:29.733 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% so that one forgot the fact that she was lame. 21:29.766 --> 21:33.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% She -- There was no self-pitying in her. 21:33.400 --> 21:35.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% -Christina Olson suffered 21:35.066 --> 21:39.800 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% from a still not entirely diagnosed neurological disease 21:39.833 --> 21:41.633 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% that gradually, over decades, 21:41.666 --> 21:44.233 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% deprived her of the ability to walk. 21:44.266 --> 21:48.300 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% But by all accounts, she was a stubborn and proud woman 21:48.333 --> 21:50.133 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% who refused to use a wheelchair, 21:50.166 --> 21:53.166 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and towards the later years of her life, 21:53.200 --> 21:55.233 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% literally had to drag herself around, 21:55.266 --> 21:57.233 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% inside and outside the house. 21:57.266 --> 21:59.633 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% -I don't think she thought of herself maybe as a cripple. 21:59.666 --> 22:01.200 align:left position:25%,start line:0% size:75% I don't think she liked that word, 22:01.233 --> 22:03.266 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% and I don't like it either, to describe her. 22:03.300 --> 22:05.100 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% She just accepted things as they were 22:05.133 --> 22:08.066 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% and made do with what she had. 22:08.100 --> 22:10.800 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -Andy first met the Olsons on his first date 22:10.833 --> 22:13.466 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% with his soon-wife-to-be Betsy James. 22:13.500 --> 22:16.966 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -She was a great friend of Betsy's, my wife. 22:17.000 --> 22:18.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% They had known her as a little girl. 22:18.966 --> 22:21.566 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% And I didn't have a studio at that time. 22:21.600 --> 22:24.400 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% We were building a house in Cushing. 22:24.433 --> 22:28.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And I asked the Olsons whether I could use one of 22:28.033 --> 22:30.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% the upstairs rooms because it was deserted, 22:30.166 --> 22:34.233 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and I did, and that was how it all started. 22:34.266 --> 22:36.233 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -I always think it's so interesting that my mother, 22:36.266 --> 22:39.000 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% young Betsy James, who was 17, 22:39.033 --> 22:41.633 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% she takes him to the Olson House. 22:41.666 --> 22:44.333 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% It was hardscrabble existence in that house. 22:44.366 --> 22:47.733 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% No electricity, no water, no refrigeration. 22:47.766 --> 22:50.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% You know, she's sitting on stacks of newspapers 22:50.233 --> 22:51.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% that she'd urinate on. 22:51.566 --> 22:53.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% It was a lot to take. 22:53.233 --> 22:55.233 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% But he took to it like that, 22:55.266 --> 22:58.500 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% and -- and look what he produced from it. 22:58.533 --> 23:00.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -We had a marvelous time together. 23:00.066 --> 23:03.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% Sometimes we wouldn't say a thing for hours, 23:03.033 --> 23:04.466 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% and then we'd talk. 23:04.500 --> 23:09.233 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% She felt very easy with me and, I think, enjoyed it. 23:09.266 --> 23:11.233 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -And again, it's this world 23:11.266 --> 23:13.800 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that my father then sort of morphed into, 23:13.833 --> 23:17.100 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% as he had done in Pennsylvania, I think, with the Kuerner farm. 23:17.133 --> 23:20.733 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% And...it was magic. 23:25.900 --> 23:29.366 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 23:29.400 --> 23:33.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -I saw her crawling out to a little truck garden she had 23:33.233 --> 23:34.966 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% next to the house one day. 23:35.000 --> 23:38.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And it dawned on me, what a terrific, I mean... 23:38.166 --> 23:40.800 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% And I went home and made a quick notation 23:40.833 --> 23:44.866 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% of this idea of Christine in the field, 23:44.900 --> 23:48.466 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% the house in the background. 23:48.500 --> 23:50.833 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% And several days went by, 23:50.866 --> 23:53.266 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and this kept building in my mind. 23:53.300 --> 23:55.100 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -"Christina's World" is a picture 23:55.133 --> 23:57.133 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% that's actually kind of hard to look at anymore, 23:57.166 --> 23:59.433 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% because it's become such an icon 23:59.466 --> 24:04.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that to come to it fresh is almost impossible. 24:04.033 --> 24:06.500 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% But that, in a way, is a sign of its strength, 24:06.533 --> 24:09.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that, over decades, people come back to it, 24:09.566 --> 24:12.600 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% generation after generation, and find it haunting. 24:12.633 --> 24:16.600 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% Even people who don't really know the story of Christina. 24:16.633 --> 24:19.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -It's enjoyed because there's a spectrum of emotions 24:19.566 --> 24:21.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% that it can release. 24:21.233 --> 24:25.533 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% And that might be loneliness, it might be yearning, 24:25.566 --> 24:28.566 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% it might be something that's lost 24:28.600 --> 24:32.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that can never be seen or rescued again. 24:32.066 --> 24:34.333 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% It can look like somebody's dream -- 24:34.366 --> 24:36.166 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% a nightmare, maybe even. 24:36.200 --> 24:38.100 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% This woman seen from the rear, 24:38.133 --> 24:41.733 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% moving herself up towards a little haunted house 24:41.766 --> 24:45.733 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% that's on this very strong horizon. 24:45.766 --> 24:48.100 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% -A woman longing for something. 24:48.133 --> 24:50.833 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% Some people pick up that she's crippled. 24:50.866 --> 24:54.766 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% Some people don't at all, and just think she's yearning. 24:54.800 --> 24:56.700 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -It's a very odd painting. 24:56.733 --> 24:58.933 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% Everything is incredibly sharp focus. 24:58.966 --> 25:01.366 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% It's this crystalline world. 25:01.400 --> 25:04.100 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% I mean, here you have a wisp of her hair blowing, 25:04.133 --> 25:07.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and then, up in the barn, you know, half a mile away, 25:07.166 --> 25:10.000 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% is a shadow of a swallow flying by. 25:10.033 --> 25:12.000 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% You know, it sure ain't realism. 25:12.033 --> 25:15.466 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% And that's what I think lifts it into just another world. 25:15.500 --> 25:23.333 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 25:23.366 --> 25:25.466 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 25:25.500 --> 25:28.533 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -I grew up with a young colored boy 25:28.566 --> 25:30.400 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% who I played with for years. 25:30.433 --> 25:33.300 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% He was really my closest companion as a small boy. 25:33.333 --> 25:35.233 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% Lived over the hill. 25:35.266 --> 25:38.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% And he was remarkable. 25:38.966 --> 25:42.766 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And I found he had great imagination -- 25:42.800 --> 25:47.033 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% much more than the white boys I knew. 25:47.066 --> 25:49.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -One of Andrew Wyeth's closest friends in childhood 25:49.400 --> 25:52.266 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% was David Lawrence, who was a young African-American boy, 25:52.300 --> 25:56.533 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% who brought him to this part of Chadds Ford. 25:56.566 --> 25:59.600 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% The black community here was called Little Africa, 25:59.633 --> 26:01.433 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% which may sound charming now, 26:01.466 --> 26:03.500 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% but it really reminds us of an era 26:03.533 --> 26:06.466 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% when neighborhoods that were mostly populated by black people 26:06.500 --> 26:09.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% had derisive nicknames given to them by whites. 26:09.166 --> 26:10.833 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 26:10.866 --> 26:13.200 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% It was because of this insider introduction 26:13.233 --> 26:15.600 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% Wyeth was able to access these people 26:15.633 --> 26:18.200 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% for portraits and for paintings. 26:18.233 --> 26:20.766 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 26:20.800 --> 26:23.666 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -I didn't paint them because they were black people. 26:23.700 --> 26:27.433 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% I painted them because they were my friends. 26:27.466 --> 26:28.633 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% And I've always felt 26:28.666 --> 26:34.700 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that the blacks have been painted very poorly. 26:34.733 --> 26:37.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% I'm not saying that I've done it well, 26:37.066 --> 26:39.966 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% but I think they've been caricatured. 26:40.000 --> 26:43.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% Big lips, big eyes. 26:43.400 --> 26:47.666 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 26:47.700 --> 26:51.166 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -So, we're here at the ruins of Mother Archie's Church. 26:51.200 --> 26:53.300 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% By the middle of the 20th century, 26:53.333 --> 26:57.100 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% it was being used as an African-American church. 26:57.133 --> 26:59.100 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% The congregation dwindled to a number 26:59.133 --> 27:01.166 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that really couldn't support it anymore. 27:01.200 --> 27:03.666 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And it was converted into a residence. 27:03.700 --> 27:06.000 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% Different people that Wyeth painted 27:06.033 --> 27:08.233 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% lived for a time in the church, as they did 27:08.266 --> 27:12.033 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% in different makeshift spaces around the area. 27:12.066 --> 27:16.100 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -We got along the same as sisters and brothers. 27:16.133 --> 27:18.900 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% In this place you call Chadds Ford, 27:18.933 --> 27:23.166 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% we got along the same as sisters and brothers. 27:23.200 --> 27:26.733 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% Andy painted a lot of colored people's pictures around here. 27:26.766 --> 27:28.400 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% A lot of 'em. 27:28.433 --> 27:31.933 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 27:31.966 --> 27:34.133 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -James Loper was mentally challenged, 27:34.166 --> 27:36.366 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% and he would take these long, rambling walks 27:36.400 --> 27:39.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% through the countryside around the Wyeth compound. 27:39.400 --> 27:44.600 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -This James Loper painting, 1950. 27:44.633 --> 27:47.766 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% His clothes were all old and fishhooks, 27:47.800 --> 27:50.500 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and he was looking up to the left. 27:50.533 --> 27:53.233 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% Over his head was a sickle, 27:53.266 --> 27:57.433 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% and over the sickle was a white sky. 27:57.466 --> 28:01.600 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% And unless you were stupid, you knew what he meant. 28:01.633 --> 28:05.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% I think that's symbolic of the condition 28:05.433 --> 28:08.633 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% of the black man in the white world. 28:08.666 --> 28:11.966 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -Willard Snowden was a hard-luck alcoholic drifter. 28:12.000 --> 28:15.966 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% The Wyeths gave Snowden a place to live in the old schoolhouse 28:16.000 --> 28:18.666 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that had once been Andrew's studio. 28:18.700 --> 28:21.500 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -He'd been around here, living in my studio for a year. 28:21.533 --> 28:23.766 align:left position:37.5%,start line:86.67% size:62.5% I'd made a lot of drawings of him 28:23.800 --> 28:27.166 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% to get through to this man, who was a remarkable man, 28:27.200 --> 28:30.066 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% had a little problem of drinking wine. 28:30.100 --> 28:32.633 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -Snowden was an alcoholic. 28:32.666 --> 28:36.333 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And he constantly needed to feed that disease. 28:36.366 --> 28:38.566 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And Andrew was really amenable to that, 28:38.600 --> 28:44.133 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% sometimes using liquor as a way to get Snowden to sit for him. 28:44.166 --> 28:46.900 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% He would promise to drive him to the package store, 28:46.933 --> 28:49.633 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% before or after those sittings. 28:49.666 --> 28:51.233 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% This is a complicated thing. 28:51.266 --> 28:52.900 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% I think that this was emblematic 28:52.933 --> 28:55.466 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% of how Wyeth treated people around him, 28:55.500 --> 28:58.066 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% treated his subjects, treated his friends. 28:58.100 --> 29:00.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% He was nonjudgmental. 29:00.033 --> 29:01.733 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% He didn't try to change them 29:01.766 --> 29:04.700 align:left position:25%,start line:0% size:75% or set them on a more "correct" path. 29:04.733 --> 29:06.700 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% He thought of these people 29:06.733 --> 29:09.900 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% as folks who were struggling with various challenges. 29:09.933 --> 29:13.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% In paintings of Snowden, sometimes we see the ravages 29:13.233 --> 29:15.966 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% of alcohol directly affecting his body. 29:16.000 --> 29:19.466 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% We can see him in these slightly compromised situations. 29:19.500 --> 29:22.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% Wyeth painted him without his knowledge, occasionally. 29:22.433 --> 29:24.966 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% Wyeth both does a really beautiful thing 29:25.000 --> 29:27.300 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% in showing his subjects as they are, 29:27.333 --> 29:30.800 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% but it's also sometimes really painful to look at 29:30.833 --> 29:33.666 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% when you know the stories of these people's lives. 29:33.700 --> 29:36.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% He was really interested in finding the dignity 29:36.400 --> 29:38.633 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that his subjects had, and expressing it, 29:38.666 --> 29:41.500 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% no matter how difficult their lives were. 29:41.533 --> 29:50.200 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 29:50.233 --> 29:53.833 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% Andrew Wyeth was in an important 1940s exhibition 29:53.866 --> 29:55.333 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% at the Museum of Modern Art, 29:55.366 --> 29:58.233 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% called "American Realists and Magic Realists." 29:58.266 --> 30:06.066 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 30:06.100 --> 30:08.733 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -He was accepted among the avant garde. 30:08.766 --> 30:10.633 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% His work was shown at the Museum of Modern Art. 30:10.666 --> 30:13.333 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% He was seen as a magic realist. 30:13.366 --> 30:16.066 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -His big moment was when the Museum of Modern Art 30:16.100 --> 30:18.466 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% decided to buy a painting by him. 30:18.500 --> 30:19.866 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% That was in '49. 30:19.900 --> 30:22.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% Of course, that was "Christina's World." 30:22.166 --> 30:24.300 align:left position:37.5%,start line:0% size:62.5% ♪♪ 30:24.333 --> 30:26.566 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% So, this looked, at the moment, 30:26.600 --> 30:29.066 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% that Andrew Wyeth was entering into dialogue 30:29.100 --> 30:31.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% with all the great modern masters 30:31.433 --> 30:33.200 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% that the Museum of Modern Art collected, 30:33.233 --> 30:35.333 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% and he was being integrated 30:35.366 --> 30:38.733 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% into what was seen as the most important collection 30:38.766 --> 30:41.233 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% of contemporary art in this country. 30:41.266 --> 30:48.866 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 30:48.900 --> 30:52.700 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -I want to express my feelings, rather than illustrate them. 30:52.733 --> 30:57.033 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 30:57.066 --> 31:00.466 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement. 31:00.500 --> 31:02.766 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 31:02.800 --> 31:05.966 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -There comes a moment, mostly in the '60s and '70s, 31:06.000 --> 31:07.600 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% where abstract art 31:07.633 --> 31:10.866 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% becomes the definition of what contemporary art is. 31:10.900 --> 31:13.566 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -Modern artists don't try to mirror or illustrate 31:13.600 --> 31:15.733 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% the new, complex world. 31:15.766 --> 31:18.366 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% But like the artists of any age, they cannot help expressing 31:18.400 --> 31:20.600 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% the basic assumptions of their time. 31:20.633 --> 31:25.900 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -It's the era of de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock. 31:25.933 --> 31:29.033 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -I don't work from drawings or colored sketches. 31:29.066 --> 31:31.233 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% My painting is direct. 31:31.266 --> 31:33.966 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% -It's always been the responsibility of an artist 31:34.000 --> 31:38.466 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% to examine what is in the world at this moment. 31:38.500 --> 31:44.066 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% An artist can't afford to be a sentimental commentator. 31:44.100 --> 31:46.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% -And in that climate, 31:46.233 --> 31:49.266 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% Andrew began to look old-fashioned. 31:49.300 --> 31:51.200 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -But some very few artists 31:51.233 --> 31:53.800 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% still find a means of personal expression 31:53.833 --> 31:56.100 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% in the traditional and the familiar. 31:56.133 --> 31:58.900 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% Such a painter is Andrew Wyeth. 31:58.933 --> 32:01.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% -In the art world, 32:01.566 --> 32:04.800 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% Andrew Wyeth was thought of as a regionalist 32:04.833 --> 32:08.033 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% or sort of a down-home painter. 32:08.066 --> 32:11.000 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% Maybe just the populism of it, you know? 32:11.033 --> 32:12.466 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% Because he was so popular. 32:12.500 --> 32:14.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -There was a sense that he was easy, 32:14.566 --> 32:17.266 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% that the reason he gathered these mass audiences 32:17.300 --> 32:20.300 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% for his exhibition was because he was accessible. 32:20.333 --> 32:23.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% Members of that audience could understand his art 32:23.433 --> 32:27.633 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% and be moved by it without having to work very hard. 32:28.733 --> 32:31.266 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -That's when critics really started to slam him, 32:31.300 --> 32:34.633 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% that, "Oh, he's this popular with the common man, 32:34.666 --> 32:38.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% then he can't really be taken seriously." 32:38.433 --> 32:40.333 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -"Christina's World" -- the painting hangs 32:40.366 --> 32:42.300 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, 32:42.333 --> 32:44.266 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% and a million people a year look at it. 32:44.300 --> 32:49.100 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -There was also this sense that Wyeth played to his audience, 32:49.133 --> 32:54.033 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% that he wasn't subtle enough or nuanced enough. 32:54.066 --> 32:56.200 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -Is it possible for an artist himself 32:56.233 --> 32:58.800 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% to say how he would like to be described, 32:58.833 --> 33:01.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% if you could write the definitive statement? 33:01.166 --> 33:03.133 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -It's very hard to put it into words, 33:03.166 --> 33:06.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% but I'd say my whole aim is to try to do a portrait 33:06.033 --> 33:09.633 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% of the things that emotionally mean a great deal to me. 33:09.666 --> 33:12.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -I don't feel he's a 20th-century artist. 33:12.066 --> 33:15.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% He doesn't leave anything up to your own imagination. 33:15.566 --> 33:18.866 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -It's like a typical poster artist. 33:18.900 --> 33:20.366 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% Norman Rockwell. 33:20.400 --> 33:24.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% Beautiful pictures, but no emotional feeling. 33:24.033 --> 33:28.933 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 33:28.966 --> 33:33.166 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -I came up with this word for the critical dispute. 33:33.200 --> 33:34.933 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% I would call it the Wyeth Curse. 33:34.966 --> 33:38.966 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% It was people judging him without looking at him. 33:39.000 --> 33:41.666 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% And also people judging his audience 33:41.700 --> 33:45.133 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% as if somehow the audience that went to Andrew Wyeth 33:45.166 --> 33:48.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% would not be the audience that would then turn around 33:48.166 --> 33:50.433 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and go see an exhibition by Jackson Pollock 33:50.466 --> 33:52.633 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% or Willem de Kooning. 33:52.666 --> 33:54.500 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -When "Groundhog Day" was purchased 33:54.533 --> 33:56.366 align:left position:37.5%,start line:86.67% size:62.5% by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 33:56.400 --> 33:59.966 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% it was the highest price ever paid for a contemporary artist. 34:00.000 --> 34:03.066 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% That almost created a certain kind of resentment, 34:03.100 --> 34:06.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% among bohemian artists who were starving in garrets, 34:06.066 --> 34:08.633 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% that Wyeth was so successful, that he was making 34:08.666 --> 34:11.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% thousands of dollars for realist paintings. 34:11.400 --> 34:13.433 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% It somehow rubbed against the grain. 34:13.466 --> 34:16.033 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% And so where Wyeth had actually been swimming along 34:16.066 --> 34:18.400 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% with all these other painters, happily, 34:18.433 --> 34:20.600 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% he suddenly was made into an opposition. 34:20.633 --> 34:22.266 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% It wounded him, 34:22.300 --> 34:24.666 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% and he really was driven into retreat. 34:24.700 --> 34:28.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And what he did was run to Chadds Ford and to Maine 34:28.066 --> 34:31.366 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% and just make his own world for himself. 34:31.400 --> 34:34.400 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 34:34.433 --> 34:36.600 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -The enviable thing about painting is 34:36.633 --> 34:39.466 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% that you can continue to paint. It really has no real effect. 34:39.500 --> 34:43.133 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% It's not like theater, where they close the theater, film, 34:43.166 --> 34:46.766 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% I mean, you know, bad reviews and so forth. 34:46.800 --> 34:48.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% He kept on painting, 34:48.966 --> 34:51.433 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% which, of course, drives the critics mad. 34:51.466 --> 34:55.233 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 34:55.266 --> 34:57.033 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% [ Wind blowing ] 34:57.066 --> 35:00.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -I remember, one time, I was out there in Chadds Ford. 35:00.566 --> 35:03.233 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% I get there early, and I look out the window 35:03.266 --> 35:06.633 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% of the granary, and I see Andy walking in the snow. 35:06.666 --> 35:08.266 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And I see him stop, and he's looking down. 35:08.300 --> 35:12.766 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% And he looks down at this dead deer in the snow. 35:12.800 --> 35:17.100 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% And he's just looking at it for 10 minutes. 35:19.800 --> 35:22.000 align:left position:37.5%,start line:86.67% size:62.5% He looks, his hands behind his back, 35:22.033 --> 35:24.466 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% the way he always walked, and he looked down. 35:27.700 --> 35:30.666 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% And eventually... 35:30.700 --> 35:33.100 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% he walked back, got in his Jeep, 35:33.133 --> 35:35.066 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% drove on to the studio. 35:35.100 --> 35:42.700 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 35:42.733 --> 35:45.833 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -He's really an artist who works from memory. 35:45.866 --> 35:48.733 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% And I think it's a mischaracterization of him 35:48.766 --> 35:50.466 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% to just call him a realist. 35:50.500 --> 35:52.466 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% He doesn't operate like a camera. 35:52.500 --> 35:55.866 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% He's making stuff up. He's manipulating reality. 35:55.900 --> 35:58.966 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% He always admired the abstract expressionists 35:59.000 --> 36:01.733 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% and felt kinship with them. 36:01.766 --> 36:03.766 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 36:03.800 --> 36:05.600 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% Looking at his work, 36:05.633 --> 36:08.933 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% you can see the splashiness, the expressiveness of his work, 36:08.966 --> 36:11.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that has a lot in common with Franz Kline. 36:11.233 --> 36:14.300 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 36:14.333 --> 36:17.433 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% Number two, there is this surrealistic bent, 36:17.466 --> 36:19.433 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% which is deeply modern, 36:19.466 --> 36:21.633 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% and then there's a very strong abstract style 36:21.666 --> 36:23.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% that he's working with. 36:23.400 --> 36:25.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% If you look at a painting like "River Cove," 36:25.433 --> 36:29.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% which is really organized like a Mark Rothko -- 36:29.166 --> 36:31.700 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% big simple shapes, 36:31.733 --> 36:33.633 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% the sense of the two-dimensional pattern 36:33.666 --> 36:36.866 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% on the surface of the painting. 36:36.900 --> 36:38.866 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -One of the awful things the critics say is 36:38.900 --> 36:41.500 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% that he paints every blade of grass. 36:41.533 --> 36:43.333 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% It's like Jackson Pollock. 36:43.366 --> 36:46.133 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% If you get up close to it, it is not every blade of grass. 36:46.166 --> 36:48.966 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% It's a strange woven pattern. 36:49.000 --> 36:51.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -He was tapping into the rhythms of nature, 36:51.066 --> 36:52.833 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% so he looked at the grass, he got it, 36:52.866 --> 36:54.600 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% it was just -- pop, pop, pop, pop, pop -- 36:54.633 --> 36:58.500 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% the brush just danced across the surface of the painting. 36:58.533 --> 37:00.333 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -I don't think people begin to realize 37:00.366 --> 37:02.833 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% how complicated his compositions are. 37:02.866 --> 37:04.800 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 37:04.833 --> 37:07.266 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% He can often do things off-center. 37:07.300 --> 37:09.600 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% He can have a house out on the left, 37:09.633 --> 37:11.300 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% with just fields to the right. 37:11.333 --> 37:13.866 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% Or the famous one of the boy running down the hill, 37:13.900 --> 37:15.800 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% where you've got all that emptiness, 37:15.833 --> 37:18.566 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and then this little energetic, dark figure 37:18.600 --> 37:20.566 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% that is racing from the hill. 37:20.600 --> 37:23.433 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% His aerial views, his worm-eye views, 37:23.466 --> 37:28.266 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% his ways of featuring windows and doors up close, 37:28.300 --> 37:31.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% so that it's a frame within a frame. 37:31.400 --> 37:33.266 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% He would say, over and over again, 37:33.300 --> 37:35.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that he liked to turn his paintings upside down 37:35.433 --> 37:39.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and judge the composition by what he saw. 37:40.433 --> 37:43.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And if it didn't have the strength of composition, 37:43.033 --> 37:45.266 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% then it wasn't yet a good painting. 37:45.300 --> 37:46.733 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -When you're looking at these paintings, 37:46.766 --> 37:49.300 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% I think you have a sense of unease, almost, 37:49.333 --> 37:51.833 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% of restlessness, of depth, 37:51.866 --> 37:55.100 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% even if you don't know the stories. 37:57.500 --> 37:59.633 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% This is the Kuerners' kitchen. 37:59.666 --> 38:02.500 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% "Groundhog Day" was begun in this room, 38:02.533 --> 38:04.733 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% and it started with him having lunch here 38:04.766 --> 38:06.800 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% and just seeing the fall of light, 38:06.833 --> 38:08.700 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% the sunshine across the wallpaper. 38:08.733 --> 38:10.966 align:left position:37.5%,start line:86.67% size:62.5% That just struck his imagination. 38:11.000 --> 38:13.000 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% And as he himself later said, 38:13.033 --> 38:15.833 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% "I left and went up on the hill 38:15.866 --> 38:18.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and sat on the hill and looked down on the house 38:18.400 --> 38:23.133 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% and started to make sketches from memory." 38:23.166 --> 38:24.733 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% -And I sat up there, 38:24.766 --> 38:28.566 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and I began to think of that kitchen way down below. 38:28.600 --> 38:31.533 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% And that's when I began to dream about what I wanted. 38:31.566 --> 38:35.466 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% I wanted you to feel the enclosure of the building 38:35.500 --> 38:37.666 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% and yet the country outside. 38:37.700 --> 38:40.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -So, after imagining the whole concept, 38:40.566 --> 38:41.600 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% he came back. 38:41.633 --> 38:43.000 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% By this time, Karl had gone. 38:43.033 --> 38:45.366 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% And he started to sketch Mrs. Kuerner 38:45.400 --> 38:49.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% seated by the windowsill, and the family dog, Nellie. 38:49.400 --> 38:53.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% They became part of this galaxy of the painting 38:53.233 --> 38:56.566 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% that he gradually simplified. 38:56.600 --> 38:59.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% He made dozens and dozens of drawings 38:59.066 --> 39:02.366 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% as he tried to think about, "What is the key image here?" 39:02.400 --> 39:05.733 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And it boiled down to just the empty table 39:05.766 --> 39:07.900 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% waiting for Karl to come home. 39:07.933 --> 39:10.633 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -Karl was off at a farm sale, 39:10.666 --> 39:15.166 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% but there was his place, set. 39:15.200 --> 39:17.366 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% It's more of a portrait of Karl 39:17.400 --> 39:21.366 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% than almost if it had been him being there, you know? 39:21.400 --> 39:25.266 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% Knives were very important to him, as a man. 39:25.300 --> 39:27.366 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% I mean, cutting up animals, 39:27.400 --> 39:30.466 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% and he always carried a knife with him. 39:30.500 --> 39:35.366 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% I think there was a fork there, but that didn't interest me, 39:35.400 --> 39:38.566 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% 'cause I wanted to express this real person. 39:38.600 --> 39:41.266 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% -That's that sense of imminence in the painting. 39:41.300 --> 39:43.966 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% And then there's this strange story of the dog -- 39:44.000 --> 39:47.300 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% you know, the nasty dog. It was a guard dog. 39:47.333 --> 39:51.766 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -The log outside of the window with that tooth, 39:51.800 --> 39:54.433 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% like the fangs of the dog, 39:54.466 --> 39:56.100 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% really became the dog 39:56.133 --> 39:57.866 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% so that I could eliminate the dog. 39:57.900 --> 40:00.866 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% I realized that I was overtelling my story, 40:00.900 --> 40:04.600 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% because there were the sharp teeth of that German shepherd. 40:04.633 --> 40:06.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -So, if you're looking out the window of the painting, 40:06.966 --> 40:09.900 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% there's this scary log staring at you 40:09.933 --> 40:13.300 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% that looks like it's about to come charging into the kitchen. 40:13.333 --> 40:17.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% That sense of violence in the very dog 40:17.066 --> 40:19.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and in the Karl Kuerner who's not there anymore 40:19.566 --> 40:21.766 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% is part of the restlessness of this painting, 40:21.800 --> 40:23.800 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% because on the one hand, it's so serene, 40:23.833 --> 40:25.433 align:left position:37.5%,start line:86.67% size:62.5% and then, the more you look at it, 40:25.466 --> 40:27.766 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% the more there are these unsettling aspects 40:27.800 --> 40:29.600 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% that can't really be explained. 40:29.633 --> 40:31.700 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And they're part of that distillation 40:31.733 --> 40:33.666 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% of how he came to make the image. 40:38.333 --> 40:40.000 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -American artist Andrew Wyeth, 40:40.033 --> 40:41.433 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% who is known for powerful paintings 40:41.466 --> 40:43.266 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% of tenderness and mystery, 40:43.300 --> 40:46.166 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% turns out to have kept the biggest mystery so well. 40:46.200 --> 40:49.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -For 15 years, Helga was the secret occupation 40:49.233 --> 40:51.766 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% of America's best-known living artist. 40:51.800 --> 40:54.066 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -The art world along with the general public 40:54.100 --> 40:57.166 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and even Wyatt's wife were stunned. 40:59.066 --> 41:00.800 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% -I think it was a scandal 41:00.833 --> 41:03.466 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% partly because he'd kept all of this work secret. 41:03.500 --> 41:05.033 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% And everybody was titillated 41:05.066 --> 41:07.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% by the idea that he had a whole body of work 41:07.066 --> 41:09.133 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% that he was not telling his wife about, 41:09.166 --> 41:11.300 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% not telling the rest of the world about, 41:11.333 --> 41:13.100 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and that there were a lot of nudes involved 41:13.133 --> 41:14.633 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% and a beautiful young woman. 41:14.666 --> 41:17.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% So that, in itself, was a kind of soap opera. 41:17.966 --> 41:23.200 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -The day that it broke, we had "USA Today," "Time," "Newsweek" 41:23.233 --> 41:26.900 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% just zeroing in on the farm here 41:26.933 --> 41:29.566 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and wanting to know all about this. 41:29.600 --> 41:32.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -A large body of work on one subject... 41:32.166 --> 41:33.700 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -Over and over, he drew her. 41:33.733 --> 41:37.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -You had asked about what Chadds Ford was like. 41:37.400 --> 41:39.500 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% It wasn't as wild as Maine. 41:39.533 --> 41:42.400 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -The Wyeths have not explained the mystery. 41:42.433 --> 41:45.233 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -They went out to their island to get away, 41:45.266 --> 41:48.166 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% and there were helicopters going over. 41:48.200 --> 41:51.866 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 41:51.900 --> 41:54.300 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -To an outsider looking in, 41:54.333 --> 41:57.233 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% there's a story unbeknownst to them 41:57.266 --> 41:59.966 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that draws them in like a magnet. 42:00.000 --> 42:02.066 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% -Just the daring of this show. 42:02.100 --> 42:04.866 align:left position:25%,start line:0% size:75% The explicitness of some of the images. 42:04.900 --> 42:06.900 align:left position:25%,start line:0% size:75% -And I think the show is sensational. 42:06.933 --> 42:09.466 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% I don't care what the critics say. 42:09.500 --> 42:14.733 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -That story was then twisted into a manipulation. 42:14.766 --> 42:16.933 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -There is endless speculation 42:16.966 --> 42:20.633 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% that it was all a publicity stunt. 42:20.666 --> 42:23.933 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -He was accused of having done the whole thing 42:23.966 --> 42:25.700 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% in order to create headlines, 42:25.733 --> 42:28.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and that the secret was not a secret, 42:28.166 --> 42:30.466 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% it was a conspiracy. 42:32.266 --> 42:34.433 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -I don't know if I told you 42:34.466 --> 42:41.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% about him sharing with me why he did the Helga paintings. 42:41.166 --> 42:44.733 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 42:44.766 --> 42:48.300 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% He said, "I needed to be away from Betsy 42:48.333 --> 42:51.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% and have some space." 42:51.433 --> 42:54.433 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -He was so happy not to ever pay bills, 42:54.466 --> 42:56.900 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% not to ever sell prints. 42:56.933 --> 42:58.900 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% Betsy took care of all of that. 42:58.933 --> 43:01.233 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% Betsy wanted to see whatever he painted that day, 43:01.266 --> 43:03.733 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% do the catalogue, number it, and so forth. 43:03.766 --> 43:06.333 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -Why did you keep the paintings a secret? 43:06.366 --> 43:11.200 align:left position:37.5%,start line:86.67% size:62.5% -I'd been painting houses, barns, 43:11.233 --> 43:14.833 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and all of a sudden, I saw this girl, 43:14.866 --> 43:17.233 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and I said, "My God, if I could get her to pose, 43:17.266 --> 43:21.066 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% she personifies everything I feel. 43:21.100 --> 43:22.466 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% And that's it. 43:22.500 --> 43:24.800 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% I'm not going to tell anyone about this. 43:24.833 --> 43:28.033 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% I'm just going to paint it." 43:28.066 --> 43:31.100 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% -He wanted to fulfill his soul. 43:31.133 --> 43:33.800 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% He needed just to do that for himself. 43:33.833 --> 43:36.500 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% He was always producing. No artist wants 43:36.533 --> 43:39.166 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% to be taken for granted that you produce -- 43:39.200 --> 43:41.266 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% produce for the sake of producing. 43:41.300 --> 43:44.000 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% You'll never, never produce anything good 43:44.033 --> 43:47.633 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% if you don't have something you paint for yourself. 43:47.666 --> 43:57.333 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 43:57.366 --> 44:00.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -When word of the Helga collection came out, 44:00.433 --> 44:05.500 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that was really shocking to her. 44:05.533 --> 44:07.733 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% She looked at me, and she said, "Did you know?" 44:07.766 --> 44:09.933 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% And I said, "No. I had no idea." 44:09.966 --> 44:12.433 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 44:12.466 --> 44:16.266 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% 200 drawings and watercolors. 44:16.300 --> 44:19.600 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% The rest were framed temperas. 44:19.633 --> 44:23.266 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% I kept seeing these and looking at her, 44:23.300 --> 44:25.700 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and looking at her looking at the paintings, 44:25.733 --> 44:28.433 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% and thinking, "What is she thinking? 44:28.466 --> 44:32.033 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% How can she separate her emotion 44:32.066 --> 44:37.300 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% from the real appreciation of the paintings?" 44:37.333 --> 44:40.166 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -It unsettled her, the fact that I never told her. 44:40.200 --> 44:42.400 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% And it still bothers her. 44:42.433 --> 44:45.666 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% But she realizes that she's living with a man 44:45.700 --> 44:48.833 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% that's wrapped up in my painting. 44:48.866 --> 44:53.233 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -Meanwhile, Helga felt betrayed, 44:53.266 --> 44:58.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% because he promised her that he would not let them out. 44:58.033 --> 45:00.866 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -How prepared can you get? 45:00.900 --> 45:03.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% You don't know what's going to happen, you know? 45:03.166 --> 45:06.066 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% I was never made for the public. 45:06.100 --> 45:08.466 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% I really wasn't. 45:08.500 --> 45:11.800 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 45:11.833 --> 45:14.866 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -So, you have two very different personalities. 45:14.900 --> 45:17.766 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% Betsy was extremely controlling. 45:17.800 --> 45:20.566 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% Helga was extremely adaptable. 45:20.600 --> 45:25.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% If he wanted to go down the ravine in the winter -- 45:25.233 --> 45:28.266 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% One time he told me she carried a dead deer up a hill. 45:28.300 --> 45:30.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% So she would just do whatever he said. 45:30.566 --> 45:32.900 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% Betsy would argue. 45:32.933 --> 45:36.066 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -He took what I had to say, and I took what he had to say. 45:36.100 --> 45:38.066 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% It's a mutual thing. 45:38.100 --> 45:41.700 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% You sense it, what he needs. 45:41.733 --> 45:47.233 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% There was no question about it. You just did it naturally. 45:47.266 --> 45:49.700 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% That's a gift. 45:49.733 --> 45:53.500 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -It was something that I was doing, 45:53.533 --> 45:57.566 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and my imagination -- I painted every minute. 45:57.600 --> 46:02.333 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 46:02.366 --> 46:05.233 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -Being able to paint Helga gave him 46:05.266 --> 46:09.466 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% all of this magnificent energy he never had before. 46:09.500 --> 46:12.100 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% He was actually able to double the work. 46:12.133 --> 46:14.700 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% -I was a force. 46:14.733 --> 46:17.366 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% Don't you see? I gave him confidence. 46:19.700 --> 46:21.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% I didn't have any doubts. 46:21.966 --> 46:24.700 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -Many of the things he was doing concurrently 46:24.733 --> 46:27.966 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% are related to these Helga works. 46:28.000 --> 46:34.033 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 46:34.066 --> 46:37.433 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -Betsy -- she has a sense of order. 46:37.466 --> 46:40.433 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% She can't stand chaos. 46:40.466 --> 46:43.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% You have a collection over 15 years, 46:43.966 --> 46:46.633 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% and she always wants to know 46:46.666 --> 46:48.966 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% what came first, second, third, fourth. 46:49.000 --> 46:51.833 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% What helped her deal with this whole thing 46:51.866 --> 46:54.333 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% was to put everything in order. 46:54.366 --> 46:57.266 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% And that was the only thing that grounded her. 46:57.300 --> 47:02.700 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% She was so big to rise above it 47:02.733 --> 47:06.233 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% and really appreciate the works for what they were. 47:06.266 --> 47:10.133 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 47:10.166 --> 47:11.866 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% -The Helga pictures have 47:11.900 --> 47:13.466 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% some extraordinary, beautiful paintings. 47:13.500 --> 47:17.500 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% They are not only fabulous, in terms of their technique, 47:17.533 --> 47:19.800 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% but the composition, the subject matter, 47:19.833 --> 47:21.866 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% they are really striking pictures. 47:21.900 --> 47:25.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% So I think they're some of his finest paintings. 47:25.166 --> 47:26.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% There's still, of course, 47:26.966 --> 47:29.700 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% an erotic story that's unavoidable. 47:29.733 --> 47:31.666 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% That's potent in these pictures. 47:31.700 --> 47:34.800 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% But I think we can also see them as great paintings. 47:34.833 --> 47:37.733 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -I think every painting has a mystery to it 47:37.766 --> 47:40.866 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that only the artist and the subject know... 47:40.900 --> 47:44.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that will never be shared in reality. 47:44.966 --> 47:49.000 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% -We danced, and we laughed at the whole world together. 47:50.366 --> 47:54.966 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% I think he rediscovered the whole world in himself. 47:55.000 --> 48:05.033 align:left position:37.5%,start line:0% size:62.5% ♪♪ 48:05.066 --> 48:11.933 align:left position:37.5%,start line:0% size:62.5% ♪♪ 48:11.966 --> 48:13.833 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -When you know something and feel it 48:13.866 --> 48:17.166 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and have a love for it, my God, do it. 48:17.200 --> 48:19.266 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% Don't let it go by. 48:19.300 --> 48:23.833 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 48:23.866 --> 48:27.400 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -Andrew Wyeth was an artist 24 hours a day. 48:27.433 --> 48:35.033 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% He spent the entire day walking, exploring, sketching, thinking. 48:35.066 --> 48:37.066 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -It's like you're being a child again. 48:37.100 --> 48:41.266 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% You can do what you want, and you can do what you love. 48:41.300 --> 48:45.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% How many people in life get to do what they love to do? 48:45.033 --> 48:47.500 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -I've never met anyone else 48:47.533 --> 48:50.400 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% that was alive in the world the way he was. 48:50.433 --> 48:54.166 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -He painted up until the end. 48:54.200 --> 48:56.633 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 48:56.666 --> 48:59.000 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% Oh, gosh. 48:59.033 --> 49:02.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% When he was dying in bed, in the upper bedroom, 49:02.966 --> 49:05.366 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% someone said, "Come here, look." 49:05.400 --> 49:09.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% And he was asleep, but his hand... 49:09.566 --> 49:14.166 align:left position:37.5%,start line:0% size:62.5% ♪♪ 49:14.200 --> 49:16.666 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% -He was drawing, in the dream. 49:16.700 --> 49:20.666 align:left position:37.5%,start line:0% size:62.5% ♪♪ 49:20.700 --> 49:24.100 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% -His final words to me, when we were saying goodbye 49:24.133 --> 49:26.566 align:left position:25%,start line:0% size:75% and I leaned down and he pulled me in 49:26.600 --> 49:28.400 align:left position:25%,start line:0% size:75% and looked at me right in the eye 49:28.433 --> 49:30.500 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% and said, "Give them hell." 49:30.533 --> 49:36.733 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% -I'm so glad he lived past 2000, because it was a sea change. 49:36.766 --> 49:39.933 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% And they had a "Rediscovering Andrew Wyeth" session 49:39.966 --> 49:43.033 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% at the big national convention of art historians. 49:43.066 --> 49:45.400 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% And the young people threw aside 49:45.433 --> 49:48.500 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% all the horrible criticism of their seniors, 49:48.533 --> 49:50.933 align:left position:37.5%,start line:86.67% size:62.5% rebelled, and looked at Andrew Wyeth. 49:50.966 --> 49:53.500 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% He got to participate in nine years of that, 49:53.533 --> 49:57.033 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% of hearing people look at him anew. 49:57.066 --> 50:00.366 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% -I think this is a moment for not only the public 50:00.400 --> 50:02.066 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% to rediscover him, but for art historians 50:02.100 --> 50:05.266 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% to really rethink him. 50:05.300 --> 50:07.333 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -I think we've moved beyond 50:07.366 --> 50:10.766 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% the easy opposition of realism and abstraction 50:10.800 --> 50:14.433 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% which I think was the story back in the 1960s. 50:14.466 --> 50:16.666 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% And I think it's now possible to see him 50:16.700 --> 50:19.266 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% as just a different way of being modern. 50:19.300 --> 50:25.066 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 50:25.100 --> 50:27.933 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% -He painted his own backyard. 50:27.966 --> 50:32.233 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% When you paint what you know and what you know with truth, 50:32.266 --> 50:35.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% that love is universal. 50:35.233 --> 50:38.500 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% -Wyeth's pictures always capture people. 50:38.533 --> 50:42.800 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% They stare at them and just roam around in them. 50:42.833 --> 50:45.533 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% When we did the exhibition at the museum, 50:45.566 --> 50:47.866 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% it actually was not unusual to find people in tears 50:47.900 --> 50:49.466 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% in front of the paintings, 50:49.500 --> 50:53.366 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% and paintings that weren't overtly sad. 50:53.400 --> 50:56.266 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% It opened up memories in people, 50:56.300 --> 50:58.933 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and I think that's one of the powers in his work, 50:58.966 --> 51:02.466 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% is that the emotion that he banks into the picture 51:02.500 --> 51:06.033 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% allows people to unlock emotion of their own. 51:06.066 --> 51:10.500 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 51:10.533 --> 51:15.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% -If you look at the light on the corner of the wall 51:15.166 --> 51:18.800 align:left position:25%,start line:86.67% size:75% in the window in "Groundhog Day," 51:18.833 --> 51:22.733 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% there is nothing, anywhere, written 51:22.766 --> 51:26.066 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% in the history of art, about art -- 51:26.100 --> 51:28.900 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% no words compare to what he did. 51:28.933 --> 51:32.433 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 51:32.466 --> 51:37.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% That sunlight traveled eight minutes from the sun, 51:37.566 --> 51:40.800 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% came through the atmosphere, 51:40.833 --> 51:42.300 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% through that window, 51:42.333 --> 51:45.100 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% and struck the side of that window frame 51:45.133 --> 51:46.933 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% and that wall. 51:46.966 --> 51:49.566 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 51:49.600 --> 51:52.033 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% And he got it. 51:52.066 --> 52:00.600 align:left position:37.5%,start line:93.33% size:62.5% ♪♪ 52:00.900 --> 52:10.066 align:left position:50%,start line:0% size:50% ♪♪ 52:10.100 --> 52:19.466 align:left position:50%,start line:0% size:50% ♪♪ 52:19.500 --> 52:23.800 align:left position:50%,start line:0% size:50% ♪♪ 52:27.066 --> 52:32.766 align:left position:50%,start line:0% size:50% ♪♪ 52:32.800 --> 52:35.500 align:left position:37.5%,start line:0% size:62.5% Narrator: "Wyeth" is available on DVD. 52:35.533 --> 52:38.300 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% To order, visit shop.pbs.org. 52:38.333 --> 52:41.566 align:left position:12.5%,start line:0% size:87.5% Or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS. 52:41.600 --> 52:44.900 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% This program is also available for download on iTunes. 52:44.933 --> 52:53.200 align:left position:50%,start line:0% size:50% ♪♪ 52:53.233 --> 52:55.833 align:left position:37.5%,start line:0% size:62.5% Listen to the American Masters Podcast 52:55.866 --> 52:58.600 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% at pbs.org/americanmasters, 52:58.633 --> 53:00.733 align:left position:25%,start line:0% size:75% featuring a blend of original interviews 53:00.766 --> 53:02.466 align:left position:0%,start line:0% size:100% and selections from our archive. 53:02.500 --> 53:03.933 align:left position:25%,start line:0% size:75% Subscribe now. 53:03.966 --> 53:12.433 align:left position:50%,start line:0% size:50% ♪♪ 53:12.466 --> 53:20.933 align:left position:50%,start line:0% size:50% ♪♪ 53:22.300 --> 53:23.933 align:left position:50%,start line:0% size:50% ♪♪