Helga by Andrew Wyeth

The Helga Pictures by Andrew Wyeth are a fantastic compilation of tempera and dry brush paintings, watercolours and pencil studies secretly created within a span of over fifteen years. Andrew Wyeth created over two hundred and 40 individual works of neighbor Helga Testorf from 1971 to 1985 without telling a single person, including his wife. He stated that he would not have been able to have finished the project with everyone looking at it. (Allen) The large number of works and the open charge that runs through them suggested more than a simple artisan-and-model relationship.The Helga chapter landed on the covers of Time and Newsweek as the public speculated over whether Wyeth, then 69, had had an affaire with the charr 22 years his junior. As the Wyeths tried to explain the relationship, the art human beings wondered whether the secrecy and subsequent revelation had been staged simply to raise the usuality and wrong of the paintings. It was a love affair with the burning love that Ive always had toward the things I paint, Wyeth said of the Helga paintings. If I dont have it, the painting goes ordinary, routine. (Nelson/Oliver) Stung by review article over the Helga hoopla, Wyeth denied there had ever been a sexual relationship, and his wife admitted that not all of the works had been kept secret from her. When critics accused the Wyeths, and Andrews, of being hucksters, the creative person verbally shrugged, saying critics were just looking to bop me on the head. (Nelson/Oliver)) So who is Helga Testorf? She is a Prussian-born immigrant who was a caregiver to one of Wyeths neighbors, Karl Kuerner, near his mob in rural Chadds pass over, Pennsylvania.She was 32 years old when Wyeth premier(prenominal) met her in the early 1970s, and something about the blond beauty stirred the artificer in a very profound way. They were merely acquaintances for a term until finally Wyeth asked her to pose. Helga had never posed before but was willing. (Musewo rthy) In 1986, when the Helga Pictures were revealed, Mrs. Testorf was a middle-aged mother of four, living with her husband John on a secluded property called Zum Edelweiss on the other side of Chadds Ford from Wyeths home. (Museworthy)Helga, like her employer Karl Kuerner, was of German descent. Helga immigrated to the United States and Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania in 1961, eventually became a mother and homemaker before becoming Karls caregiver. Due to her tie with Mr. Wyeth, she eventually developed an keen interest in poetry and art. onward Andrew Wyeths death, Helga was one of the ailing artists primary caregivers. wherefore Andrew Wyeth became infatuated with this Pennsylvania Fraulein is unclear, other than he obviously found her a fascinating subject.Some hypothesized that it was her reddish blonde hair that set the tone for this serial of renderings by the enigmatic artist, that drew Wyeth to concentrate so much clock and effort on the interpretation of this womans visage and the egotism within. Her chiseled features, her supple form, her pensive stare and ultimately, Helgas innate obedience to the process could have given the great artist the insatiable decide to slavishly devote so much of his creative energies to one subject.Some kinsfolk however, luridly speculated that Helgas alluring visage engendered a passionate affair between she and the doting artist. For those who considered an affair was afoot, Andrew Wyeths wife Betsy did not disappoint. (Day) Betsy, his wife of many decades and who was also his business manager, is said to have let record run unabated until she sold the entire serial publication to Leonard E. B. Andrews in 1986. It has been estimated, that the series sold well in excess of over six cardinal dollars.She then denied that the scathing recital was true, and was convincing to the point of believability. Today the rumor is not the subject, but rather Andrew Wyeths profound artistry within the Helga series. (Day) Andre w Wyeth and Helga Testorf remained compressed friends until his death. Their relationship, and the art created as a result, has endured over many, many years. The Helga series is artist/muse embodied to perfection. And every artist should be so well-disposed to find his Helga. Museworthy) Works Cited Allen, Scott. Andrew Wyeth/The Helga Pictures. Cure the Blind. 6 July 2009. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. Nelson, Valerie and Oliver, Myrna. Hugely popular painter Andrew Wyeth dies at 91. Los Angeles Times. 17 January 2009. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. Andrew and Helga. Museworthy. 31 August 2008. Web. 10 Nov. 2012 Day, Wyatt Sanderman. Andrew Wyeths Helga a Compulsive Fetish or his Best Work. Beaufort County Now. 29 September, 2009. Web. 10 Nov. 2012.