Reading by Flashlight

Once again I find myself wanting to add a chapter to this story book.

Our local art museum opened an exhibit entitled "The Wyeths: Three Generations." Mr. Moose, Mrs. Green Thumb and the youngest ping pong ball all have an appreciation for the works of Andrew Wyeth. Andrew, the second of the aforementioned three generations, was an accomplished realist painter. Andrew died on January 16th of this year. One of his best known works, "Christina's World," is part of the permanent collection at Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The third Wyeth, Jamie, the son of Andrew, is still creating art today and has had a long successful career that began in his teens.

N. C. Wyeth, the patriarch, specialized in illustrations.

The exhibit holds a great blend of the three artists. It shows the individuality of these men, while the juxtaposition of works showed a commonality of themes, of palates and of views.

For my part, the illumination of this exhibit was the work of N.C. Wyeth. Newell Convers Wyeth created 3,000 paintings and illustrated112 books. Many of the books were on display next to the paintings they inspired.

These works: a title page from King Arthur (1917) and a scene from Treasure Island (1911), show the clarity and strength of image this illustrator used when transfering word to picture.

Each new example transported me back to the books I read as a child. Those volumes were never fully illustrated, so you were forced to turn back every few pages to catch a glimpse of the hero; the less-is-more approach that still left room for the imagination.

All this must sound hypocritical coming from a person who takes pride in the volume of television he watches. But long before 300 channels and 24-hour programing, I had a copy of Treasure Island and a flashlight next to my bed. I can still see the ten illustration plates. They weren't Wyeth, but they were magical.