Cleveland Museum of Art
September 20, 2026 – January 18, 2027
As we come to the end of the America 250 celebration year it is fitting to have this new exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Andrew Wyeth is purely American and his watercolors reflect the people and places that surrounded him in rural Pennsylvania and Maine starting in the 1930’s.
Spectacular Freedom: Andrew Wyeth and the Modern American Watercolor presents nearly 75 works from the artist’s estate-most of which have never been on view. Featuring watercolors and a selection of the artist’s paintings, the exhibition highlights a major aspect of Wyeth’s life and art. You can see it at the Cleveland Museum of Art until January 18, 2027.
The press release states, “This exhibition is the first to offer an in-depth exploration of American artist Andrew Wyeth’s watercolors-described by one critic as having a “spectacular freedom-examining his relationship to the medium throughout the early decades of his career…Wyeth began to experiment with watercolor at a time when interest in it exploded throughout the United States, leading to its promotion as a medium distinctively suited to depicting American experiences. This new climate for making and exhibiting watercolors not only encouraged Wyeth’s practice but also informed the fundamental questions engaged by his work about what it meant to be American and modern at that time.”
I have seen a lot of exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art and one of the things that struck me as I walked through this one is how much of a regular guy Andrew Wyeth seemed to be. From his self-portrait with his dog to his collection of artist’s tools that look like they could have come from any budding artist’s garage, he comes across as very down-to-earth and very American.
Andrew Wyeth self-portrait
Andrew Wyeth tools
The two watercolors of Jack the Hound were among my favorites. Anyone who has ever had a dog knows the expression on Jack’s face very well.
The collection shows how much he worked at his art. For example, he painted twelve versions of lobsters, with various distinctions, to get it right. Four of them are on display. He painted items to be used in larger drawings such as a tree stump (which never made it into the big piece) and even a dead crow!
Britany Salsbury, the Curator of Prints and Drawings, talked about this when showing the watercolor of a Pennsylvania tree in the Fall. The painting of the tree stump next to it was done as a study for the bigger piece but never actually made it into the work!
Curator Britany Salsbury
I also liked the depiction of hard workers in Maine and Pennsylvania – maybe that’s part of the “Spectacular Freedom.”
I also thought it was interesting that a couple of the works featured an African-American friend. This was in the 1930’s and 40’s so that might not have been very common.
In the video below I intersperse my brief walk through with commentary from Britany Salsbury, the Curator of Prints and Drawings, who put the exhibition together with William L. Coleman, Director of the Wyeth Study Center and Wyeth Foundation Curator, Brandywine Museum of Art.
Of course, these low-res images and video are not close to what you can see if you are fortunate enough to visit the Cleveland Museum of Art to see it in person. Details on the Andrew Wyeth Exhibition.
