From collection Kosti Ruohomaa Collection
LB2017.19.65195
Contact sheet: (12) 120mm frames showing scenes from Ruohomaa's visit to Cushing, Maine, in the summer of 1951.The photos depict Andrew Wyeth in conversation with Alvaro Olson on the Olson farmstead near the Wyeths' in Cushing. Olson was a brother to Anna Christina Olson, who modelled for Wyeth's iconic 1948 painting, "Christina's World" (which was set on this same property). Wyeth and Alvaro Olson are shown posing with farm machinery in the tall grass near the farmhouse. 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.
