My grandmother had a framed print of Christina's World (1948) by Andrew Wyeth, and even though I've never seen the actual painting (I wonder if she had? It's in the MoMA's collection), I still love it. It's such an evocative image. So I'm excited about the National Gallery's forthcoming exhibition, Andrew Wyeth: Looking Out, Looking In, featuring another favorite Wyeth painting, Wind from the Sea (1947); and reading a bit about Wyeth in advance.

Fortunately, I have my own copy of First Impressions: Andrew Wyeth by Richard Meryman (Abrams, 1991). Meryman, who first met Wyeth while writing an article for LIFE magazine in 1964, became a friend of the artist and has gone on to publish a number of books about Wyeth and his work, most recently A Spoken Self-Portrait (NGA, 2013). Their friendship undoubtedly informs Meryman's biography of Wyeth, written while Wyeth was still living; the author describes it as "a distillation of years of talk and understanding." It's part of the First Impressions series of artist's biographies developed especially for older middle grade and young adult audiences and published by Abrams in the 1990s--insightful and thorough, these are all well worth seeking out.

Susan Goldman Rubin covers a bit more ground in Everybody Paints! The Lives and Art of the Wyeth Family (Chronicle, 2014), including three generations of artists, N.C. (Andrew's father), Andrew, and Jamie (his son). Also part of a series (I reviewed Rubin's Delicious: The Life and Art of Wayne Thiebaud here; Wideness and Wonder is about Georgia O'Keeffe), Rubin's book would make an interesting comparison with Meryman's, at least as far as Andrew is concerned. I will report back.