Machines for work, play and warfare: a tour through images from the pages of the Scientific American Archive from 1917. Trucks became popular because businesses and the military (particularly during World War I) could make use of a reliable mechanical vehicle that could haul heavier loads farther and faster than a flesh-and-blood horse that required much care and maintenance and was limited to about 25 miles of travel in a day. Horses were now an imperilled minority on the roads bicycles were in decline in the U.S., although still popular in Europe.Ĭars became popular because the price of these machines had plummeted: a Ford Model T sold for $850 in 1908 but $260 in 1916, with a dramatic rise in reliability along the way. Ten years later in 1917, there had been a 33-fold increase in the number of cars registered, to almost 5 million, and a 134-fold increase in the number of commercial, agricultural and military vehicles, to almost 400,000. Almost nobody rode horses, but plenty of people rode bicycles for pleasure and for transport. People and goods still travelled long distances on land by railroad, and short distances by foot or horse-drawn carriage. In 1907 there were 140,300 cars registered in the U.S. Wyeth, as quoted in Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth: Kuerners and Olsons, p.In one decade, cars replaced horses (and bicycles) as the standard form of transport for people and goods in the United States. I try for an equal balance.I want the object to be there in my paintings, perhaps in all of its smallest detail, not as a tour de force, but naturally, in such a way that I have backed into it." (A. I believe, however, that I don't want to let the one take over the other. As embodied by the nuanced balance seen in Heavy Snow, Wyeth once said, "Why not have the abstraction and the real, too? Combine the two, bring in the new with the traditional and you can't beat it. Balancing this openness, he deftly delineates the fine tree by the edge of the pond, the sharply accurate roof antenna and the touches of colorful curtains seen through the windows.
Exploiting the white of the paper and applying watercolor with an economy of wash, Wyeth subtly indicates the surrounding winter landscape, creating an almost abstract composition. In Heavy Snow, Wyeth sensitively captures his complex subject through his renowned skillful handling of the watercolor medium. It was like doing a person's face-so complex!.If you look closely at Brown Swiss, you'll see many, many very fine details.All these things are closely related to the true sense of portraiture." (as quoted in Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth: Kuerners and Olsons, p. Wyeth himself acknowledged this aspect of his landscapes, stating of his important Kuerner Farm work Brown Swiss (1957, Private Collection) that the painting "is indeed a real portrait to me. They will NEVER be happy and they dont want you to be either. In fact, Wyeth almost treats the subject of the house and surrounding land as would a portraitist, looking on from afar yet capturing the necessary details that form a palpable sense of personality. Chinas auto sales could be heading for a rare fall this year, but one bright spot is in. Blanketed under the cover of snowfall, the home feels at once resilient against the elements yet also fully immersed in the natural environment. 40)Īs in the best of his works at Kuerner's, Heavy Snow conveys a narrative, capturing not only the distinct landscape of the farm but also the spirit of its unseen inhabitants. It just excited me, purely abstractly and purely emotionally." (as quoted in Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth: Kuerners and Olsons, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1976, p. I didn't think it was a picturesque place.
The abstract, almost military quality of that farm originally appealed to me and still does.To see the hills capped with snow in the wintertime or to look at the tawniness of the fields in the fall all made me want to paint it. Actually I'm not terribly interested in farming. Then, all of a sudden, I'll have a strong compulsion to go back." Explaining his fascination with the area throughout the seasons, Wyeth continued, "I didn't go to that farm because it was in any way bucolic. "When I was about ten years old, I had an urge to paint it, curiously enough it never became a conscious effort or something about which I said to myself, 'I must continue this work.' I've gone on for years and not painted there. "Some of my earliest watercolors were done there," Wyeth fondly recalled of Kuerner's. One of Andrew Wyeth's most frequent subjects throughout his lengthy career was a neighboring farm belonging to the Kuerner family in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. This work will be included in Betsy James Wyeth's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's work.
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