Andrew Wyeth American, 1917-2009
47 x 60.6 cm
Buzzard's Glory belongs to a group of iconic tempera portraits Wyeth produced in the 1960s and is the only tempera that depicts the subject of John Lynch, part of a local Chadds Ford family deeply intertwined with Wyeth’s own. This significant figure in Wyeth’s life appears in five related works, including two pencil drawings, a watercolor, and two drybrushes. Wyeth painted Buzzard’s Glory in 1968, an especially politically charged year perhaps alluded to by Lynch’s military jacket, and just following the close of his major retrospective, Andrew Wyeth: Temperas, Watercolors, Drybrush, Drawings, 1938 into 1966, which traveled to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Baltimore Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, and Art Institute of Chicago. When Buzzard's Glory was unveiled at the White House in 1970 in an exhibition of works hand-selected by Wyeth, it was the lead illustration for the exhibition in numerous newspapers covering the historic event.
Provenance
The artist;[Coe Kerr Gallery, New York];
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Levine, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1969;
Arthur and Holly Magill, Greenville, South Carolina, 1979;
Seibu Pisa Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, 1990;
Gallet Co, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan;
Esueru Industrial Co., Ltd., Japan, 1997; to
Private collection, 2000; to
[Sale: Sotheby's, New York, May 21, 2009, lot 17];
Pacific Sun Trading Company, Wellesley, Massachusetts;
The present owner, 2010
Exhibitions
The White House, Washington, D.C., The White House Show, February–March 1970
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, Andrew Wyeth, July–September 1970, p. 46, no. 87, illus. in color p. 47
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth: Kuerners and Olsons, October 1976–November 1977, no. 110, illus.
Greenville County Museum of Art, South Carolina, Works by Andrew Wyeth from the Holly and Arthur Magill Collection, September 1979, p. 35, no. 9, illus. in color (and on extended loan through January 1989)
Aichi Prefectural Museum, Nagoya, Japan; Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan; Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, Fukushima-City, Japan; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, Andrew Wyeth: Autobiography, 1995
Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina, Andrew Wyeth: The Greenville Collection, March 14, 2012-May 19, 2013
Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina, Wyeth Dynasty, November 16, 2016-September 10, 2017
Literature
Gerald S. Lestz, "Andrew Wyeth's Surprise," New Era, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, February 13, 1970, p. 1
Gerald S. Lestz, "Nixon Honoring Wyeth and His Paintings," New Era, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, February 13, 1970, p. 1, illus.
"Wyeth on Display," Daily Local News, West Chester, Pennsylvania, February 13, 1970, p. 2
"Wyeth's Paintings a White House First," Evening Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, February 13, 1970
"Wyeth Work to Aid House Restoration," Portland Press Herald, February 14, 1970, p. 9, illus.
"White House Display," Portland Press Herald, February 14, 1970, p. 9, illus.
"Wyeth Revisited," Evening Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, February 21, 1970
Victoria Donohoe, "Andrew Wyeth Stars at the White House," Philadelphia Inquirer, February 22, 1970, illus.
Christopher Andreae, "White House One-Man Show Salutes Painter Wyeth," Christian Science Monitor, February 24, 1970, illus.
Henry Themal, "Wyeths in the White House," Evening Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, March 11, 1970, illus.
Ernest Haskell, Jr., "Art Palette," Times Record, Brunswick, Maine, July 24, 1970, illus.
Caron LeBrun, "The Wyeth Magic," Boston Herald, August 2, 1970, pp. 12-14, illus. in color
Donald Cragin, "Joe Levine - 64 and Moving," Sunday Herald Traveler, August 23, 1970, illus.
David McCord and Frederick A. Sweet, Andrew Wyeth, Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1970, pp. 46-47
Thomas Hoving, Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth-A Conversation with Andrew Wyeth, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1976, p. 189
Introduction by John Canaday, Works by Andrew Wyeth from the Holly and Arthur Magill Collection, Greenville: Greenville County Museum of Art, 1979, pp. 34-35
John Canaday, "Andrew Wyeth: Rising Above the Scorn," The Art Gallery, May 1, 1979, p. 110
William Schemmel, "Wyeth's of Greenville," Pace, July 1, 1980, pp. 44-46, illus. in color
Shuji Takahashi, Thomas Hoving, et al., Andrew Wyeth Retrospective (Japanese edition), Nagoya: Chunichi Shimbun, 1995, p. 107
Andrew Wyeth and Thomas Hoving, Andrew Wyeth: Autobiography, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, in association with the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1996, p. 81
Thomas Hoving, "Wyeth Trial Balloon - How Hot Does It Have To Be?," ArtNet.com, April 20, 2000
Cindy Landrum, “Wyeth Collection Expands,” Greenville Jornal, Greenville, South Carolina, February 24, 2012
Paul Hyde, “New paintings fill in portrait of Wyeth,” The Greenville News, Greenville, South Carolina, February 23, 2012
Chris Worthy, “Museum set to expand Andrew Wyeth collection,” Destination Downtown, Greenville, South Carolina, March 1, 2012, p. 12
“Buzzard’s Glory, Late Fall” Invitation, Greenville County Museum of Art, February 1, 2012
“Buzzard’s Glory,” Notecard, Greenville County Museum of Art, February 1, 2012
