Howard Pyle, Andrew Wyeth and Others


Andrew Loomis

While out East for Abbey Ryan's workshop in June, I was fortunate to be able to attend two museums. The first was the Delaware Art Museum, 2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington, DE. My husband had a meeting so I was able to wander for as long as I wanted without worrying about him waiting on me. The museum has over 12,000 works of art. Many by local artists. One such artist is Howard Pyle. He is well known, especially for his illustration work. I was especially drawn to his painting "Marooned".  There is a whole blog devoted to Howard Pyle here.

My favorite of the whole museum however was the illustration by Andrew Loomis for The Ladies Home Journal (see top of post. Sorry for the wonky picture).  It's hard to give paintings justice in a picture on a blog, but here is a close-up of some of the detail. 








Another museum that was recommended was the Brandywine River Museum.  Just looking at the old Mill building that housed the museum was fascintating.  We don't have buildings that old here in Central Illinois.  Here are a couple of shots I took of the outside of the building.



The Brandywine Museum also has famous artists from the area including the Wyeth family.  As I was paying my entrance fee the nice young woman told me that a tour was just starting of the Andrew Wyeth galary hosted by Andrew Wyeth's only grandchild Victoria Wyeth.  She was very enthusiastic in her presentation and gave lots of information only a family member would know.  I felt really fortunate to have gotten there right at that time.
 
One of the paintings was the large painting "Snowhill"  There is a very good description of this painting here.  During the tour someone came within an 1/8" of touching this painting.  You would have thought a baby was being dangled over a cliff by the reaction of serveral people. (Not that I think paintings should ever be touched.) 
 
So that is just a little side-line about my trip out East.  If you are ever in the area I highly recommend both museums.

Comments

  1. Wow! I love the Andrew Loomis painting,reminds me of Jack Vettriano.

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  2. A most fabulous post, Karla! I still do like some of the old buildings here in IL. Maybe not from the 1700's, but lots of 1800's buildings still around!

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  3. Last summer, I also enjoyed the Brandywine, but missed the Delaware Museum. We went to the Barnes Foundation instead. (It is in the process of moving but has an awesome collection...) Will need to go to the Delaware next time. There are so many great museums in all parts of the country. Nice to know of another.

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  4. Hi Karla, I was on Azra's blog and saw the name Howard Pyle on your blog and just had to stop by. Years ago I had loved the painting "Marooned" so much i painted my own copy. And Loomis is the best for study work! Thanks for the links!
    ks

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  5. I have the book published by the Society of Illustrators. It is the history of Illustration in America. Where I used to work they had original paintings by Andrew Loomis and Coles Phillips and several other famous illustrators. The company closed and moved the work overseas but before they did we convinced them to have an exhibit of those original paintings. I live in a small town in Iowa and that was a big deal around here. I only regret that the Norman Rockwell was removed several years earlier with a public showing. I commented that "To have great art and not have a public showing is like having a good book and not letting anyone elst read it. We are lucky to have public art museums.

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