Andrew Wyeth (1917–2009) forged a singular path apart from the dominant movements of his time. While abstract expressionism, pop art and neo-Dada reshaped post-war American art, Wyeth turned inward, devoting his life to depicting the people and landscapes surrounding his homes in Pennsylvania and Maine. His meticulously rendered paintings, often executed in tempera and watercolour, transcend realism to reveal the quiet poetry of solitude, memory and introspection.
Marking the 100th anniversary of the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, ‘Boundaries or Windows’ is the first major retrospective of Wyeth’s work in Japan since the artist’s death. The exhibition explores one of his most persistent motifs: the boundary, embodied by windows, doors and thresholds that separate interior and exterior worlds, yet invite reflection on the spaces between life and death, self and nature, and perception and imagination.
Over ten works, including Winter Fields (1942, from the Whitney Museum of American Art), Cooling Shed (1953, Philadelphia Museum of Art) and Departure Party (1984, Philbrook Museum of Art), will be shown in Japan for the first time. The long-awaited exhibition offers an intimate look into the spiritual and emotional landscapes of one of the most celebrated American realist painters of the 20th century.
