1949.7 Andrew Wyeth, Beckie King


GENERAL DESCRIPTION    
In Beckie King, Andrew Wyeth depicts the stoic elderly woman meticulously dressed in her nightgown and bed jacket with her hair carefully braided behind her ear. The texture of King's weathered face and hands contrast with her shiny, patterned garments and wispy hair. This work is typical of Wyeth's sharply defined pencil drawings. A similar attention to detail and precision appears in the work of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), whom Wyeth greatly admired. Intended to be a study for a painted portrait, the pencil likeness of Beckie King was the only view produced before her death. 

Adapted from
  • Angie Morrow, DMA documentation, TMS data, April 11, 2001.
  • P.F.R., DMA research document, n.d., Education files.

NOTES
Complete exhibition history, additional published references and basic provenance added to TMS record. At a later date, this object file has additional bibliographic resources that could be added to the TMS records for other Wyeth objects.

During routing Sue Canterbury noted that the exhibition where the object is currently on loan is not shown in the record. The exhibition appears as a loan rather than a related exhibition record because it is ongoing (and the D3Cs only have purview over archived exhibition records). I confirmed that the show, organized by the Denver Art Museum, is in TMS and that the exhibition catalogue is in the bibliography.

I changed the status of this note from routed to completed- June 14, 2016.

The library's artist file contains valuable research materials- not all of which are entered into TMS or present in the object file. It would be helpful if the library object file was cross-referenced (or duplicated) in the primary object file and indicated in the TMS record in some way.

Angie Morrow's attribution note states that Wyeth possibly extended the drawing after King's death. Based on my understanding from the TMS photograph, this explanation for the paper seams would problematize the date and signatures in the lower left. Perhaps Wyeth folded or cut the paper for the late 1946 exhibitions but provided both parts when it was purchased?

Removed TMS object tag because rule exists.

Adding "draft" tag back to note, Dec 19, 2016, as part of the revised harvest/route procedure. This note will be pulled into GDrive and manually moved to Queta's folders for final review. Update- January 18, 2017- Adding #routed tag so that I can easily keep track of this note in Evernote to confirm that it is eventually pushed into GDrive. As of January 18, 2017 the content is in Brain but not in GDrive so I am unable to finish revisions and mark it complete in Evernote or move the GDoc to Queta's folder.
Confirmed note updated in GDrive. Tagged completed and moved GDoc to Queta folder. (1/24/2017)

Catalogue essays specific to object

Artist/designers

Cultures

Geography
Produced- Chadds Ford, PA

Process/materials
paper
pencil

Historical periods

Individuals

Subject terms
drawing
portrait 
study
bed (furniture)
bed jacket
elderly
invalid
dots
hands
woman
texture

RELATED OBJECTS     

PROVENANCE

AUDIO ASSETS    

VIDEO ASSETS     
John Wilmerding, "Derivation and Originality in the Art of Andrew Wyeth," Bromberg lecture series, September 24, 1987; in conjunction with An American Vision: Three Generations of Wyeth Art, September 29- November 29, 1987. (Wilmerding was the Deputy Director of the national gallery of Art, and curator of concurrent NGA exhibition "Andrew Wyeth: The Helga Pictures," File name: WyethWillmerding, original format- U-matic, KCA-60XBR.
12936249: UMO
12936257: UMO
Object number added to Piction (1/24/2017)

IMAGE ASSETS    

WEB RESOURCES 

ARCHIVAL RESOURCES 

FUN FACTS    
  • This work is signed by both the artist and sitter. Beckie King's autograph appears in the lower left corner.
  • The DMA owns another example of Andrew Wyeth's technical process. That Gentleman Study (1962.11) was also created as a preparatory study for a larger tempera portrait (1962.27).

TEACHING IDEAS     

RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1949.7

Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
   
In Beckie King, Andrew Wyeth depicts the stoic elderly woman meticulously dressed in her nightgown and bed jacket with her hair carefully braided behind her ear. The texture of King's weathered face and hands contrast with her shiny, patterned garments and wispy hair. This work is typical of Wyeth's sharply defined pencil drawings. A similar attention to detail and precision appears in the work of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), whom Wyeth greatly admired. Intended to be a study for a painted portrait, the pencil likeness of Beckie King was the only view produced before her death. 

Adapted from
  • Angie Morrow, DMA documentation, TMS data, April 11, 2001.
  • P.F.R., DMA research document, n.d., Education files.

Fun Facts
   
  • This work is signed by both the artist and sitter. Beckie King's autograph appears in the lower left corner.
  • The DMA owns another example of Andrew Wyeth's technical process. That Gentleman Study (1962.11) was also created as a preparatory study for a larger tempera portrait (1962.27).

Archival Resources
 

Web Resources
 

Notes
Complete exhibition history, additional published references and basic provenance added to TMS record. At a later date, this object file has additional bibliographic resources that could be added to the TMS records for other Wyeth objects.

During routing Sue Canterbury noted that the exhibition where the object is currently on loan is not shown in the record. The exhibition appears as a loan rather than a related exhibition record because it is ongoing (and the D3Cs only have purview over archived exhibition records). I confirmed that the show, organized by the Denver Art Museum, is in TMS and that the exhibition catalogue is in the bibliography.

I changed the status of this note from routed to completed- June 14, 2016.

The library's artist file contains valuable research materials- not all of which are entered into TMS or present in the object file. It would be helpful if the library object file was cross-referenced (or duplicated) in the primary object file and indicated in the TMS record in some way.

Angie Morrow's attribution note states that Wyeth possibly extended the drawing after King's death. Based on my understanding from the TMS photograph, this explanation for the paper seams would problematize the date and signatures in the lower left. Perhaps Wyeth folded or cut the paper for the late 1946 exhibitions but provided both parts when it was purchased?

Removed TMS object tag because rule exists.

Adding "draft" tag back to note, Dec 19, 2016, as part of the revised harvest/route procedure. This note will be pulled into GDrive and manually moved to Queta's folders for final review. Update- January 18, 2017- Adding #routed tag so that I can easily keep track of this note in Evernote to confirm that it is eventually pushed into GDrive. As of January 18, 2017 the content is in Brain but not in GDrive so I am unable to finish revisions and mark it complete in Evernote or move the GDoc to Queta's folder.
Confirmed note updated in GDrive. Tagged completed and moved GDoc to Queta folder. (1/24/2017)

Catalogue essays specific to object

Artist/designers

Cultures

Geography
Produced- Chadds Ford, PA

Process/materials
paper
pencil

Historical periods

Individuals

Subject terms
drawing
portrait 
study
bed (furniture)
bed jacket
elderly
invalid
dots
hands
woman
texture

RELATED OBJECTS     

PROVENANCE

AUDIO ASSETS    

VIDEO ASSETS     
John Wilmerding, "Derivation and Originality in the Art of Andrew Wyeth," Bromberg lecture series, September 24, 1987; in conjunction with An American Vision: Three Generations of Wyeth Art, September 29- November 29, 1987. (Wilmerding was the Deputy Director of the national gallery of Art, and curator of concurrent NGA exhibition "Andrew Wyeth: The Helga Pictures," File name: WyethWillmerding, original format- U-matic, KCA-60XBR.
12936249: UMO
12936257: UMO
Object number added to Piction (1/24/2017)

rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1949.7
tags
#draft
#completed
women: AAT: 300025943
%Archived
texture (physical attribute): AAT: 300056362
@Schiller
*American Art
hands (animal or human components): AAT: 300310193
patterns (design elements): AAT: 300010108
dots (geometric motif): AAT: 300010145
elderly: AAT: 300025913
drawing (visual works): AAT: 300033973
portrait: AAT: 300015637
paper (fiber product): AAT: 300014109
pencil: AAT: 300022439
studies (visual works): AAT: 300081053
invalid (handicapped / poor health): DMA
handicapped (people): AAT: 300025921
Durer_Albrecht: ULAN: 500115493
Wyeth_Andrew: ULAN: 500001266
Chadds Ford (Pennsylvania/United States): TGN: 7013568
bed (furniture): AAT: 300038697
bed jacket (clothing): AAT: 300209946
source file
object_notes_3_c-0297.xml.nores