ANDREW WYETH HAS DIED

One of Americas best known and arguably , best, painters , has died in his sleep at his home in Chadds Ford PA. Wyeth was 91.

I remember in my frequent trips to West Chester PA, I would often pass his home "Brinton's Mill' located along the Brandywine Creek. His wife Bess and he, were avid birders and nature "gawkers". I would often see him just sitting b y the creek, sketch pad in hand , working on some sketch of the surrounds. I once stopped and talked with him and showed him one of my sketcches of some birds. He was quite gracious and made some good suggestions about what to look for in arranging a scene.

His work was not well understood by many. He was not a detailed chronicler and line by line draftsman. He was quite interested in abstraction and his work reflected much in the way of compression of dimension and the use of optical directionals. For this he was criticized for not being "Photographic enough".t was often said that, if Wyeth were to paint a vase of flowers, he would let them dry and shrivel before beginning. His interest in death and transfiguration has been celebrated in a series of recent shows at the Brandywine and the Wilmington Art Gallery.

He was a frequent habitue of "HAnks Diner" along route 1 and he often held impromptu discussions of art and local history, with which he was also interested.

Hes just about the last of the Brandywiners, the new generation is invested in Photoshop, not art.