Image via the Museum of Modern Art. Text from an article in Mental Floss:
The 31-year-old Wyeth modeled the painting's frail-looking brunette after his neighbor in South Cushing, Maine. Anna Christina Olson suffered from a degenerative muscular disorder [Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease] that prevented her from walking. Rather than using a wheelchair, Olson crawled around her home and the surrounding grounds... The sight of Olson picking blueberries while crawling through her fields “like a crab on a New England shore” inspired Wyeth to paint Christina’s World.
Art historians have often snubbed Wyeth's works in their surveys, and some naysayers have attacked the painting's widespread popularity, deriding it as "a mandatory dorm room poster." Meanwhile, critics have chastised Wyeth's attention on Olson's infirmity and characterized it as exploitation. Still others claim there was no art in rendering realistic imagery in paint...
Christina's World remained her favorite to the end. Once when I asked her why, she simply smiled and said, 'You know pink is my favorite color.' 'But you're wearing a flowered pink dress in Miss Olson and holding a kitten. I thought you loved kittens.' 'Course I do, but in the other one Andy put me where he knew I wanted to be. Now that I can't be there anymore, all I do is think of that picture and I'm there.'
Always a favorite of mine. Charcot Marie Tooth, a condition my foot and ankle surgeons deal with daily, very distinctive disease.
ReplyDeleteMy late aunt had this picture (a replica, obviously) hanging in her living room. I loved it so.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was introduced to this painting as a boy I didn't know the backstory. I had no idea physical disability was involved. Instead I imagined the conflicting emotions of the girl straining to see beyond the horizon. On the one hand she is thrilled to think of the great, wonderful world waiting out there (the windblown wisp of hair is especially evocative). On the other hand she is anguished to think that she'll be stuck here forever and never see it. Not surprisingly this was a projection of my thoughts at the time. We always see art through the lens of our own experience.
ReplyDeleteI am still trying to make sense of the words above.
ReplyDeleteAndrew painted the pictures, I guess, but the subject of the first was the interviewed person, I guess, so I am assuming that many years went by before the painting called The Kitten was made ? I want to go to Mental Floss and question them about who, what, why. but, you know what ? I am too confused to type anymo
It will make more sense at the source; I excerpted the parts that interested me or were new to me, and my use of ellipsis creates some illogical jumps.
DeleteHmmm I don't think Charcot Marie Tooth is such a distinctive disease, it is often confused with another neuromuscular degenerative disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Charcot studied under Duchenne as it happened and mentored a string of 'names', including Freud, Tourette, Babinski and Escherich http://url.ie/zmnz
ReplyDeleteOn the everything is connected front, it seems that Andrew Wyeth is the brother of Nicholas Wyeth, the chap who invented the 'disposable' plastic bottle http://url.ie/zmny If the links don't work in the US swap blogspot.ie with blogspot.com
Very nice blog, Bob. I plan to do some exploring there.
Deleteas i recall, the plastic used in the first plastic coca cola soda bottles was carcinogenic, so there was change of plastics.
DeleteI-)
and just to extend the topic drift, clear plastic is being consider for use in cans. you can google 'clear cans food' or 'klear can' (a brand name) for more info.
Deletehaving a clear food can is going to take away from the surprise at seeing the contents when you open the metal can. in addition, the contents are going to have to be made to look better.
I-)
cool! love this!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-a-champagneladen-steamship-ended-up-in-a-kansas-cornfield
ReplyDeleteThought you'd appreciate this, Stan.
Thank you, DubyaD.
DeleteI saw this a few days ago, but couldnt place the artist. Thanks Stan!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.madmagazine.com/blog/2015/06/30/chris-christies-world