Cornflakes
Cornflakes
Artist
Jamie Wyeth
(born 1946)
Date1985
MediumWatercolor and varnish on paper
Dimensions28 × 22 in. (71.1 × 55.9 cm)
Framed: 39 3/8 × 33 3/8 × 2 1/4 in.
Framed: 39 3/8 × 33 3/8 × 2 1/4 in.
ClassificationsWatercolor
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2007.221
Signedl.l., in dark brown paint: J. WYETH
Accession number
2007.221
On View
On viewLabel TextThe colorful rooster appearing on grocery store shelves is instantly associated with the Cornflakes brand. In this painting, Jamie Wyeth plays with our ability to recognize this imagery by humorously depicting an actual rooster standing in front of a bag of Cornflakes. But Wyeth is not only painting a visual pun. Unlike the simplified rooster used to sell breakfast cereal, Wyeth’s bird is meticulously painted. It is positioned in profile as the primary focus of the composition and seen at eye level, not from above or below as birds are often depicted. In effect, Wyeth paints the rooster as if it were a human by using the conventions of portraiture. This gives the bird a more elevated status than that of a common barnyard animal.
Jamie Wyeth belongs to an important family of American artists active for more than a century in the Brandywine Valley of eastern Pennsylvania. He is the son of celebrated artist Andrew Wyeth and grandson of the noted painter and illustrator N.C. Wyeth. While they each paint in their own signature styles, the Wyeths are best known for painting realist images of people, landscapes, and objects from everyday life. Each also demonstrates great technical mastery of their chosen mediums, especially watercolor. Here, the humble chicken becomes a noble portrait through Wyeth’s careful brush. [92]
Jamie Wyeth pertenece a una importante familia de artistas estadounidenses que lleva más de un siglo trabajando en el valle de Brandywine, al este de Pensilvania. Es hijo del famoso artista Andrew Wyeth y nieto del destacado pintor e ilustrador N.C. Wyeth. Aunque cada uno pinta con su propio estilo, los Wyeth son conocidos sobre todo por sus imágenes realistas de personas, paisajes y objetos de la vida cotidiana. Cada uno de ellos demuestra además un gran dominio técnico de los medios que han elegido, especialmente la acuarela. En esta obra, una modesta gallina se convierte en un noble retrato gracias al minucioso pincel de Wyeth.
