ANDREW WYETH: THE HELGA PICTURES

New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1987. First Edition. . Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Andrew Wyeth is arguably the foremost and most popular realist painter of the last half of the 20th century. In 1986, it became known that for over 14 years Wyeth had drawn and painted Helga Testorf, a neighbor in Chadd's Ford, PA, in the nude without the knowledge of their spouses. In 1987, when the 247 studies of Helga were exhibited at the National Gallery and then toured nationally, there was extensive criticism of the museum and the work. First edition, first printing. About 9 3/4 x 11 1/4 inches. 208 pages bound in red cloth-covered boards with gold lettering on front panel and spine. 294 illustrations, 96 in full color with complete documentation of each work. Also included are a chronology of exhibitions, a selected bibliography and comments on the work by Wyeth. The dustjacket shows a reproduction of "Braids," 1979, in full color on the front panel and four pencil studies for the painting on the back panel. The frontispiece is a drawing titled, "The First Drawing," 1971, a small study of the model's head. There is a small, dime-sized erasure mark in the top corner of the fep, o/w boards and text are complete, clean and unmarked with no significant flaws of any kind. The dustjacket is likewise close to perfect and now cased in a Brodart protector. A very collectable copy. [Due to size and weight of the book, we cannot accept priority/express orders or orders from outside the U.S. without additional postage.]