Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) was a 20th century US artist who was known for his realism in portraiture and pastorals. He was born in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania and his father was a famous illustrator. He started his art career by painting using regular watercolour and dry-brush watercolour technique; however, he eventually adopted the tempera method. Later in his career he became known for both vivid landscapes and portraiture, sometimes fusing the two. In many of his paintings, his models were his neighbours and the locales in his surrounding areas as he liked to work close to home.

‘Christina’s World’ (1948), (tempera on gessoed panel, 32 ½ inches x 47n3/4 inches) is the one of the best known canvases of the mid-20th century depicting a woman lying on the ground in a treeless, mostly tawny, field. It is done in a realist style called magic realism. The painting is displayed at Museum of Modern Art, New York, as a part of its permanent collection.. — M.Z.A

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, October 23rd, 2016