![]() |
Portrait of Arnold Schwarzenegger
Jamie Wyeth (American, born in 1946)
1977
Oil on canvas
* The Collection of Arnold Schwarzenegger. © Jamie Wyeth.
* Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
|
Lynn and I have always enjoyed the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston during our frequent trips there. They always have interesting and sometimes provocative exhibits, they have multiple great restaurants and the space manages to be stately without being intimidating or overwhelming.
Recently, Lynn and I had the chance to check out one of the high profile exhibits in the US for the season: The Jamie Wyeth retrospective. Wyeth's work has always intrigued me on its own and in the way it connects to the work of his father and especially his grandfather.
Wyeth's retrospective shows an artist whose interests and experimental tendencies surpassed both his father and grandfather. Wyeth's work reflects some of the rustic, supernatural(ism) of his father Andrew but it also connects to some of the brawny and poetic men of action that NC painted in his illustrations for Children's Classics like Last of the Mohicans. Wyeth's 1977 portrait of a bare chested Arnold Schwarzenegger in his late 70's prime reminded me of NC's work on the print version of The Return of Tarzan from 1913 which depicts a brawny Tarzan in repose. This portrait in particular made me realize that Jamie Wyeth merged the notion of fine art with popular culture and even pulp in a way that his grandfather did which is why I love his work so much and why he is the most enjoyable major American artist at present in my opinion....