Artists of Wyeth country Howard Pyle, N. C. Wyeth, and Andrew Wyeth

This book is at once an introduction to the art of Howard Pyle and N. C. and Andrew Wyeth and a guidebook to Pennsylvania's "Wyeth Country." Maynard (The Brandywine: An Intimate Portrait) leads readers on six tours through the Brandywine Valley's Revolutionary War battlefields in Chadds Ford, PA. The Wyeths and Pyle painted these landscapes, and Pyle held his summer art school in Chadds Ford, where he inspired N. C. Wyeth, who was one of his students. Much of the book's first part is devoted to Andrew Wyeth and contextualizing the ways he was influenced by N. C. (his father) and Pyle. Maynard writes that Andrew rejected nonfigural modernism and believed that a painting was a mystical re-creation of nature on a flat surface using illusionistic techniques. As this book approached publication, the Wyeth estate forbade Maynard from reproducing Andrew Wyeth's works. Nonetheless, the book is well illustrated with works by N. C., Pyle, and their contemporaries, and nearly all of Andrew's works can be viewed online. This guidebook has the perfect scope and is well documented, with footnotes, bibliography, index, and map. VERDICT This readable title will appeal to readers interested in the art of the Brandywine School or Revolutionary War history.--Nancy J. Mactague, formerly of Aurora Univ. Lib., IL