The Rope (Study for Hay Ledge)
Artist
Andrew Wyeth
(American, 1917–2009)
Date1957
Mediumwatercolor and opaque watercolor over graphite on board
Dimensions53.2 x 33.4 cm (20 15/16 x 13 1/8 in.)
ClassificationsWatercolors
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Robert W. Stoddard
Terms
Object number1988.39
Label TextThe Rope was a preparatory study for Wyeth’s ambitious tempera painting, Hay Ledge (1957), now in a private collection. It is set in the barn belonging to Alvaro Olson, Wyeth’s friend and neighbor in Cushing, Maine. A fisherman by trade, Olson abandoned his profession to care for his sister Christina, who developed a degenerative muscle condition. She became the subject of Christina’s World (1948), one of Wyeth’s most famous paintings.
A study in name only, The Rope has the magnetic presence of a standalone work whose composition and emotional effect on the viewer are remarkably different from that of the final painting. Wyeth investigated the barn loft’s musty objects with both verve and care, paying particular attention to texture through dripping, alternating dry and wet applications of paint, sgraffito (or scratching through paint), and hatch-like strokes.ProvenanceWeintraub Gallery, New York; Mra. Robert W. Stoddard, Worcester, MAOn View
Not on view
