Andrew Wyeth The Helga Pictures

From Publishers Weekly The announcement nine months ago that 240 hitherto unknown paintings and drawings by Andrew Wyeth had been bought by collector Leonard Andrews and would go on show was front-page news. Abrams, which helped to arrange the initial exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., here publishes the entire collection of Wyeth's renderings of his neighbor Helga Testorf, with a text by the gallery's deputy director. There is also a rather foolish piece by Andrews ("I personally feel he is so far ahead of any other living artist that it is hard to name the second best"). The pictures, meticulously reproduced, range widely in mood, from sensuous nudes to somber studies of Helga in assorted rustic landscapes and interiors; they are examples of fine craftsmanship but continue to leave open the question of whether Wyeth is more than a highly skilled illustrator with a flair for drama and atmosphere. In any case, the controversy in the art world about Wyeth's stature (merely hinted at in a footnote here), and the traditional romantic speculation about artist and model, seem certain to fuel sales. 400,000 first printing; BOMC main selection. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal For 15 years, America's most popular living artist worked in secret with neighbor Helga Testorf as model. The resultsome 240 pencil sketches, watercolors, drybrush, and temperas, concerned with Helga in all aspects, nude and clothedare here shown in 100 high-quality color plates and 160 black and white illustrations. Works in progress reveal the artist's methods; finished works, an obsession with his model as awesome as his technique. Wilmerding, deputy director of the National Gallery, contributes an informative text, further clarified by the artist's own observations. Gloria K. Rensch, formerly with Vigo Cty. P.L., Terre Haute, Ind. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.