From collection Kosti Ruohomaa Collection
LB2017.19.1410
American realist painter Andrew Wyeth sits talking with Alvaro Olson (brother to Anna Christina Olson, the subject of Wyeth's iconic 1948 painting "Christina's World") who is leaning on the iron wheel of a piece of antique farm machinery. The Olson farmhouse, a three-story traditional home with gabled dormers and worn clapboards, stands behind them in background; the house appears in the background in the aforementioned painting. Ruohomaa met American realist painter Andrew Wyeth in 1947 through their mutual acquaintance, the sculptor George Curtis. The two enjoyed a long friendship and had a few eccentric adventures (see "Kosti Ruohomaa: Andrew Wyeth Collects a Hearse" and "Kosti Ruohomaa: Andrew Wyeth's Deserted House"). Arguably, they also shared some artistic affinities. For example, each had his own way of imbuing otherwise ordinary scenes with complex emotion, and both men often seemed to view their subjects as elemental forces. The painter invited the photographer to his family's summer home in Cushing, Maine for a visit of several days in June and July of 1951. The occasion yielded some notable portraits of Wyeth and his family; in effect, Ruohomaa was able to study Wyeth in one of his native habitats.
