The "A Grandfather's Granddaughter" Story

It was an ordinary day. Upset that I missed the talk that was given at the Ware Center, Millersville University's Art Center in downtown Lancaster, by Andrew Wyeth's granddaughter. Many of you probably already know that Andrew Wyeth was born July 12, 1917 in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. That's just a hop, skip and jump from my house in Lancaster. Andrew's parents home-schooled him since he was a very sickly child. N.C. Wyeth, Andrew's father was a well known illustrator and his son seemed to follow after him. His raw talent showed in his early work that depicted his family's summer home in Maine. At age 22, he married a local girl and had two boys. Nicholas became an art dealer and James became the third generation artist in the family. Andrew Wyeth died on January 16, 2009 at his home in Chadds Ford, PA. He was 91 years old. Andrew achieved international fame from his landscapes and portraits of the Brandywine Valley, notably with "Christina's World", painted in 1949, and "Master Bedroom", painted in 1965. Well, the talk that was given at the Ware Center was by Nicholas Wyeth's daughter and Andrew Wyeth's granddaughter, Victoria (Vic) Browning Wyeth. Vic is in her early 30s and for years worked in the Wyeth Galleries at the Brandywine Museum in Chadds Ford giving talks and tours of the gallery. Last year she decided to take her show on the road and tell her stories titled "Lessons I Learned at My Grandfather's Knee" to a larger audience. I am so sorry I missed it. Hope I get to see her at another location. Her stories are featured in the Lancaster newspaper and I will give you a small sampling of what she told the paper. "When you Google 'Andrew Wyeth', the person you see is very different from the person that's in my heart. You see Andrew Wyeth. I see 'Andy'. I think of him as just this adorable kind of wrinkly grandpa who's also wearing black L.L. Bean turtlenecks and always saying, 'Vic, get me some applesauce.'" Wow, could be one of my grandkids talking. She talked about "Master Bedroom", which depicts the family Labrador, Rattler, tranquilly asleep on Andy's bed. Her granddad had come home tired, wanting to take a nap, only to find Rattler got there first. Vic's grandmother said the painting didn't impress her and told Andrew to put it in the "giveaway pile." How many copies of that famous print have I framed in the last 12 years for sale to customers at Grebinger Gallery in Neffsville? Can't count them all. "Christina's World", another big seller at the Gallery shows the back view of a woman crouched in a field gazing at her farmhouse in Maine. Victoria said they told Andy it was not quite the thing, and that's his most famous painting. "When he died it just changed things for me," she says. "It's hard to put into words, but it changed the way that I look at the world. I never had lost someone that was that close to me. It was like someone took off my sunglasses. I just saw ... on a deeper level. When I give my lectures I can hear him in my head. It's not like he's telling me what to say; I can remember where I was with him when we spoke about it." And .... I feel so bad that I MISSED IT!! Have been down to Chadds Ford before, but would love to have heard the personal stories in person behind the many paintings that I am now framing. Someday. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - photos from the top are Andrew Wyeth, Victoria Wyeth, LDub with a framed print of "Master Bedroom", and photo of painting titled "Christina's World."