Amid the tumult, only a few were privileged to view the Helga paintings and drawings themselves only they experienced the strong, luminous power of Wyeth's work, which shines out like a beacon in this storm of controversy. Andrews, the publisher, collector, and philanthropist who purchased the works with the intention of preserving them as national treasures. Speculation abounded concerning the model, and intense publicity was focused on Leonard E. Astonishment and curiosity, in the art world and at large, greeted the news that this major American artist had for fifteen years been working in virtual secrecy on a substantial new series: more than 240 works centering around one model, Helga Testorf, a neighbor of the Wyeths in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. The circumstances surrounding the revelation of Andrew Wyeth's Helga pictures have by now been well recorded. For more information about Collier Schorr’s inspiration from Andrew Wyeth, see the art21 blog at.

Schorr used Helga as a template for her photographs of Jens. Enthralled with this notion of intruding on a personal and private moment, Schorr followed her muse, German teenager Jens F., for nearly six years after meeting him on a train in 1999. The American born photographer was fascinated by how Andrew grew to know his subjects personally and on a level of intimacy that some claim to be rather obsessive in nature. As the viewer, I feel as though I am looking in on a private moment of true intimacy between artist and model.Ĭontemporary artist Collier Schorr was especially inspired by Andrew’s paintings. All the works of Helga that are featured in museum are visually stunning and capture light and skin tone in such a manner that the viewer might be fooled into thinking they are sitting in Andrew’s position as he paints her. The Brandywine River Museum is currently host to three beautiful examples: Lovers, 1981, Night Shadow, 1978 and Baracoon completed in 1976. Known collectively as The Helga Pictures, Andrew Wyeth’s 247 known works of his neighbor Helga Testorf are one the most distinguished and ample studies of a single subject by a lone artist. One aspect of the Brandywine River Museum that I cherish most, and many visitors appreciate as well, is the opportunity to view portraits of Helga that are often on display in the Andrew Wyeth Gallery.įrom 1971 to 1985, Wyeth painted and sketched Helga Testorf, a German neighbor of the Wyeth’s who had been a nurse to the owner of the Keurner farm in his dying years.

Andrew wyeth helga pictures