LB2017.19.1495

LB2017.19.1495

Given the precedent in this group of images, the subject of this portrait is probably Forrest Wall, a friend of (and sometimes model for) American realist painter Andrew Wyeth, though the plane of focus is on the man's pant leg rather than his face, which is left blurred and indistinct. Wall is shown leaning back in a chair holding a cigarette in his mouth, with a painting which depicts four figures on a shoreline attached to an easel in the background. 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.