History and art collide in a new lecture series at the Brandywine River Museum of Art that will explore the impact of World War I on regional artists, especially the works of N.C. and Andrew Wyeth. Coinciding with the museum's centennial celebrations surrounding Andrew Wyeth's birth in 1917 and the “Andrew Wyeth: In Retrospect” exhibition opening on Saturday, June 24, the lecture series also marks 100 years since America entered the Great War. Titled "Brandywine Artists and WWI," the series will run at the museum on Wednesday, July 19, and Wednesday, Sept. 13.
Attendees will discover how WWI influenced the work and lives of artists from this region throughout the series, presented by Christine B. Podmaniczky, curator of N.C. Wyeth Collections and Historic Properties. Each lecture will highlight the work of different regional artists impacted by the war, from exploring N.C. Wyeth's body of war-themed work, to a lecture on Andrew Wyeth's fascination with WWI and the enduring effect his imaginative childhood "war memory" had on his career.
Lecture topics will include the following:
On July 19, at 11 a.m., “On the Home Front: N. C. Wyeth and World War I” will be presented.
N.C. Wyeth contributed to the war effort from his studio in Chadds Ford. This lecture surveys the body of his war-themed work and particularly examines how he kept his images vital and relevant without firsthand experience.
On Sept. 13, at 11 a.m., “Andrew Wyeth’s Great War” will be presented.
As a boy in the mid-1920s, Andrew Wyeth was fascinated with WWI. This lecture considers how, through the props and imagery he found in his father’s studio and his collection of military soldiers, Wyeth created his own “war memory” that would nourish aspects of his art throughout his career.
Lectures will take place in the lecture room at the Brandywine River Museum of Art, located on Route 1 in Chadds Ford, Pa.
To learn more, call 610-388-2700 or visit www.brandywinemuseum.org.