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Artworks
Andrew Wyeth American, 1917-2009
Her Daughter, 1972Watercolor and pencil on paper16 x 16 inches
40.6 x 40.6 cmSigned at lower right: Andrew WyethThe Andrew & Betsy Wyeth Study Center of the Brandywine Museum of Art confirms that this object is recorded in Betsy James Wyeth’s files. Her Daughter portrays the daughter of...The Andrew & Betsy Wyeth Study Center of the Brandywine Museum of Art confirms that this object is recorded in Betsy James Wyeth’s files.Her Daughter portrays the daughter of Andrew Wyeth's longtime muse and the inspiration behind the infamous Helga pictures. The present watercolor was executed in 1972, when Helga worked as a nurse and caretaker for the Wyeths' neighbors and friends, the Kuerner family. Helga became a clandestine subject of Wyeth's work for nearly fifteen years. When Wyeth revealed the pieces in 1986, the cache of artwork generated intrigue, causing such a stir that Helga even adorned the covers of Time and Newsweek in the summer of 1986.
Most of the works in the series, as well as the present watercolor were acquired directly from the artist by Leonard E. B. Andrews, the publishing entrepreneur and art collector, who, during his ownership, loaned them to a landmark exhibition at the National Gallery of Art. A rare occasion in which the museum exhibited a living artist, American Drawings and Watercolors of the Twentieth Century: Andrew Wyeth, the Helga Pictures, traveled extensively from 1987 to 1989.
Provenance
The artist; to
Leonard E. B. Andrews, Pennsylvania, 1986;
Private collection, Japan, 1989; to
The present owner, 2005Exhibitions
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco; Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan; The Brooklyn Museum; Seibu Pisa Ltd., Tokyo, Japan; Tsukashin Hall, Amagasaki, Japan; Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, Fukushima City, Japan; Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan; Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art, Kanazawa, Japan; Museum of Modern Art, Seibu Takanawa, Karuizawa, Japan; Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan; and Saitama Museum of Modern Art, Urawa, Japan, Andrew Wyeth: The Helga Pictures, 1987-1990, no. 36, as Helga's Daughter
Naples Museum, Florida, Andrew Wyeth & Family: N.C., Andrew & Jamie, January 21-May 14, 2006
Adelson Galleries, New York, Andrew Wyeth: Helga on Paper, November 3-December 22, 2006, no. 20, illus. in color, p. 43
Literature
John Wilmerding, Andrew Wyeth: The Helga Pictures, Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1987, no. 36, pp. 195, 56, illus. in color, pl. 36
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