LB2017.19.1477

LB2017.19.1477

View of Andrew Wyeth sitting in front of a gravestone, drawing on a sketch pad, in the Old North Parish Cemetery in St. George, Maine, across the "river" from Cushing, Maine, where the artist spent summers with his family. The North Parish Church, (the First Baptist Church of St. George), is seen in the distance. 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.