Rhiannon Jones

12/10/14
Comp 1 VA

Assessment 2: Art Criticism

Christinas World,
by Andrew Wyeth
The Painting Christinas World,
by Andrew Wyeth, was painted in
1948. It shows a middle aged girl lying
in the grass near the lower left hand
corner. In the upper right hand
corner you can clearly see a house
with what looks like a shed and a dog
house. You can also see tire tracks
leading to the same house. What you may not see though is that in and around the house is;
the lights on the upper level of the house are on, the ladder leading to the top of the house, the
clothes on the clothes line leading from the house, the old wheel berrow, and the leaning fence
surrounding the houses yard. One thing I noticed about the house is that it looks old and run
down. Now, about the medium. The medium of this painting is neutral. I personally like the
textural feeling of the piece. I love the texture change between the tall weedy grass to the short
stiff grass. There are a few little things about the woman like figure. As you can see the figure is
wearing a dress. The dresses color is a very neutral pink. Also if you look really close you can see
that her hand that she is leaning on look glench as if they are grabbing the grass.
The woman like figure is the focal point of this piece of work. You can tell this by
how your eye moves. For example, my eye starts at the figures head, then down her body, and
back up to the top of her head, then to the house in the house in the upper right hand corner,
then to the fence surrounding the house, to the tire tracks leading to know where, then where
the tall grass meets the short cut grass, then to the middle house, and finally back to the girl.
The darkness of the girls hair, belt, and shoes, contrast with the lightness of her dress. Another
contrast is the darkness of the house and the lightness of the sky. If you put your finger over
the middle house the painting would look empty, this means that the middle house balances
the figure and the house in the upper right hand corner. As you can probably tell, the painting

is not symmetrical. The dress on the woman like figure brightens up the painting to me. The
largest area with pattern is the weedy grass.
To me the mood of this piece is very sad, or helpless. The figure looks as if she longs to
be included. There are three main feelings that I feel in this art, such as loneliness, a feeling of
depression, and a feeling of loss. If you look really close you can see that her hand, that she is
leaning on, looks like she is either, clenching her hand as if they are grabbing the grass, or it
could also look as if she wants something. I believe that the artist is trying to say that we can't
always have what we want or need.
I think that Andrew Wyeths painting, Christinas World, was a successful piece of art. I
think this because, first it has a lot of emotionalism, second it has some formalism, and lastly is
has lots of imitationalism. You can find the emotionalism throughout the whole piece. Such as
in the type of colors the painter used, the posture of the figure ,and all the details that show
everything about the place. For example the house in the top right hand corner has the old
wood, you can tell from that, that there are probably not many people there to take care of the
house. I see the most formalism on the woman like figure. I see this because the way the girl is
positioned, she is sitting as though she is physically hurt. You can see this by the way her ankles
are twisted. The imitationalism is found everywhere. There is no place you can look and not see
imitationalism in this piece. The girl is positioned so precisely, the houses are positioned so
delicately, the way all the stands or the girls hair and the grass are, the tire tracks, the ladder.
Just everything is so perfectly laid out, that the painter would have had to have been looking at
something. I think Christinas World is saying, or showing that this is all that Christina knows of.
Also that Christina has a pitiful life. I can see this by the look of her being crippled, and the sad,
neutral colors. I think that the figure is probably sad, or lonely.