Helga by Andrew Wyeth

The Helga Pictures by Andrew Wyeth are a howling(a) compilation of tempera and dry brush paintings, watercolours and pencil studies secretly created within a span of over fifteen years. Andrew Wyeth created over two hundred and forty individual works of neighbor Helga Testorf from 1971 to 1985 without telling a single person, including his wife. He stated that he would not have been able to have finished the estimate with everyone looking at it. (Allen) The large number of works and the palpable charge that runs through them suggested more than a simple workman-and-model relationship.The Helga chapter landed on the covers of Time and Newsweek as the public speculated over whether Wyeth, then 69, had had an affair with the adult female 22 years his junior. As the Wyeths tried to explain the relationship, the art world wondered whether the secrecy and subsequent revealing had been staged simply to raise the popularity and price of the paintings. It was a love affair with the burn ing love that Ive of all time had toward the things I paint, Wyeth said of the Helga paintings. If I dont have it, the painting goes ordinary, routine. (Nelson/Oliver) Stung by criticism over the Helga hoopla, Wyeth denied there had ever been a sexual relationship, and his wife admitted that not all of the works had been kept secret from her. When critics impeach the Wyeths, and Andrews, of being hucksters, the artist verbally shrugged, saying critics were just looking to bop me on the head. (Nelson/Oliver)) So who is Helga Testorf? She is a Prussian-born immigrant who was a caregiver to one of Wyeths neighbors, Karl Kuerner, near his home in rural Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.She was 32 years old when Wyeth first met her in the early 1970s, and something about the blond beauty stirred the artist in a very profound way. They were merely acquaintances for a while until finally Wyeth asked her to pose. Helga had never pose before but was willing. (Museworthy) In 1986, when the Helga Pictures were revealed, Mrs. Testorf was a middle-aged mother of four, living with her husband John on a secluded property called Zum Edelweiss on the other side of Chadds Ford from Wyeths home. (Museworthy)Helga, like her employer Karl Kuerner, was of German descent. Helga immigrated to the United States and Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania in 1961, eventually became a mother and homemaker before becoming Karls caregiver. Due to her association with Mr. Wyeth, she eventually developed an keen interest in poetry and art. Before Andrew Wyeths death, Helga was one of the ailing artists primary caregivers. Why Andrew Wyeth became infatuated with this Pennsylvania Fraulein is unclear, other than he obviously found her a fascinating subject.Some hypothesized that it was her reddish blonde hair that set the tone for this serial publication of renderings by the enigmatic artist, that drew Wyeth to concentrate so much time and effort on the edition of this womans visage and the ego within. Her ch iseled features, her supple form, her pensive stare and ultimately, Helgas congenital devotion to the process could have given the great artist the insatiable purpose to slavishly hallow so much of his creative energies to one subject.Some folks however, luridly speculated that Helgas alluring visage engendered a passionate affair between she and the doting artist. For those who considered an affair was afoot, Andrew Wyeths wife Betsy did not disappoint. (Day) Betsy, his wife of numerous decades and who was also his business manager, is said to have let rumor run unabated until she sold the inherent series to Leonard E. B. Andrews in 1986. It has been estimated, that the series sold well in excess of over six trillion dollars.She then denied that the scathing rumor was true, and was convincing to the point of believability. Today the rumor is not the subject, but instead Andrew Wyeths profound artistry within the Helga series. (Day) Andrew Wyeth and Helga Testorf remained clo se friends until his death. Their relationship, and the art created as a result, has endured over many, many years. The Helga series is artist/muse embodied to perfection. And every artist should be so lucky to find his Helga. Museworthy) kit and caboodle Cited Allen, Scott. Andrew Wyeth/The Helga Pictures. Cure the Blind. 6 July 2009. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. Nelson, Valerie and Oliver, Myrna. Hugely popular painter Andrew Wyeth dies at 91. Los Angeles Times. 17 January 2009. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. Andrew and Helga. Museworthy. 31 August 2008. Web. 10 Nov. 2012 Day, Wyatt Sanderman. Andrew Wyeths Helga a Compulsive Fetish or his Best Work. Beaufort County Now. 29 September, 2009. Web. 10 Nov. 2012.