Grade: 5.1Print: Christina’s World, 1948, tempera on panel Original Size: 32 1/4 x 47 3/4" (81.9 x 121.3 cm). Artist: Andrew Wyeth

Materials: 30 sheets white 9 x 12” white paper30 pencils Permanent markers Watercolor sets30 cups water30 brushes Rulers

Biography:Andrew Wyeth, born in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, is the son of the talented illustrator N. C. Wyeth. Fragile as a child, young Wyeth received his art training from his father, who taught him the precision of line and accuracy of drawing that make his work technically excellent. His color is always subdued—often subtly monochromatic. His earliest work, done in 1929 when he was twelve, is pen and ink, precise and delicate in line, elegant in style in the best tradition of illustration. Wyeth then turned to the use of pencil and colored washes, then to watercolor drawings. At the age of sixteen, influenced by Winslow Homer, he was creating bold impressions of light, tone, and movement. Wyeth then disciplined his natural talent in order to present “the truth of the object.” To achieve his aim, he experimented with various media, finally settling on “drybrush” watercolor and egg tempera painting, learning the latter technique from his brother-in-law

Peter Hurd. These media require both time and patience, and Wyeth did not choose them lightly. A finished painting is often the result of many months of work. Final selection of a treatment is frequently accomplished only after many pen-and-ink drawings have been done of his subjects. Wyeth chooses his landscape subjects from two areas, Chadd’s Ford and Cushing, Maine, the places he loves best and in which he personally is most deeply involved. He paints also the people he knows well. He does not, however, paint as if he were using a camera, but brings to his work the artist’s extreme sensitivity, the painter’s eye, and the poet’s ability to transcend the moment, to synthesize an entire series of impressions into a crystallization of associated ideas that goes far beyond simple realism.

Suggested Presentation + Questions to ask the children:Christina Olson and her brother lived on a farm in Maine and provided Wyeth with subjects for many of his paintings. Christina was a paralytic, so badly crippled that she could not walk but crawled or used a chair to move. On one occasion when she was picking berries, Wyeth looked out from an upper window. This is the simple story of this painting, whose mood goes far beyond, for the empty, simple composition, the great sweep of grass, the lonely weather beaten houses, and Christina’s body in a faded pink dress become symbols of refusal to meet defeat, of struggle for existence, of human loneliness and courage. Wyeth further explained, "The challenge to me was to do justice to her extraordinary conquest of a life which most people would consider hopeless." He recorded the arid landscape, rural house, and shacks with great detail, painting minute blades of grass, individual strands of hair, and nuances of light and shadow. In this style of painting, known as magic realism, everyday scenes are imbued with poetic mystery.How do they feel about Christina’s lifestyle? Watch and listen for assumptions. Do the children assume that she is in trouble or that she needs someone’s help right now? This was before the time of motorized and specially designed wheelchairs that can maneuver over rough terrain. Since she has the ability to crawl, isn’t she freer to roam and travel out of a wheelchair than in one, considering that this is where she lives?

** What mood is expressed? You’ll probably get varying responses because there are varying signals in the painting. Some people see the isolation as quiet and peaceful; others see it as lonely and fearsome. Some people see a drab house and think it is ugly. Others see a plain but beautiful house that is well built, fun to explore and beautiful in its own stark, minimal way.

Talk about the use of perspective and try to find the vanishing point in

the painting. How Cristina is larger because she is close to us and house is smaller in the background creating a sense of space.

Related Art Project:

1. Have students draw a horizon line and place a vanishing point in center of paper. Use rulers.

2. Draw diagonal lines from the vanishing point to the corners of the paper.

3. Draw buildings on one side of the paper and trees on the other. Add sky details, clouds, sun, planes, and/or birds. Draw cars on the road and add lines in middle of street..

4. Trace over pencil in permanent marker and finish off with watercolors.

Additional resources:

1-Point Perspective:

http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2012/03/05/one-point-perspective-art-lesson/

http://harvard.indiebound.com/book/9780847837359http://www.farnsworthmuseum.org/olson-househttp://www.andrewwyeth.com

Vocabulary: watercolor, landscape, mood, feelings