WALDOBORO — The Waldo Theatre presents the third and final film in its 2023 Summer Maine Artist Film Series on Thursday, August 10, at 7 p.m.

The Waldo Theatre’s Summer series of masterful Maine Artists began with Alan Magee: art is not a solace with Artist Alan Magee, Monika Magee and Filmmaker David Berez, followed by Truthtellers with Artist Robert Shetterly and FIlmmaker Richard Kane and it will wrap up the series with the film Wyeth and filmmaker Glenn Holsten.

In addition to the full length documentary Wyeth, audience members will get a first look (world premiere) at Holsten’s upcoming film about Jamie Wyeth. The Waldo Theatre encourages attendees to come early to enjoy the August exhibition in the gallery. After the film, Director Glenn Holsten comes to the stage for a post-screening Q&A. Doors open at 6 p.m. Show starts at 7 p.m.

Wyeth tells the story of one of America’s most popular, but least understood, artists — Andrew Wyeth. Son of the famous illustrator N.C. Wyeth, Andrew had his first exhibition at age 20, and his painting “Christina’s World” was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in 1948. While Wyeth’s exhibitions routinely broke attendance records, art world critics continually assaulted his work. Detailing the stunning drawings and powerful portraits he created in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania and on the coast of Cushing, Maine, Wyeth explores his inspirations, including neighbor Christina Olsen and his hidden muse, the German model Helga Testorf, who he painted secretly for 15 years. Through unprecedented access to Wyeth’s family members, including sons Jamie and Nicholas Wyeth, and never-before-seen archival materials from the family’s personal collection and hundreds of Wyeth’s studies, drawings and paintings, Wyeth is the most complete portrait of the artist yet — bearing witness to a legacy just at the moment it is evolving.

“Like many, I grew up knowing only of “Christina’s World” — the haunting painting of a young woman crawling up a hill towards a house,” said Director Glenn Holsten, in a Waldo Theatre news release. “I purchased a postcard of the painting when I visited the Museum of Modern Art in NYC as a teenager and carried it with me for years — it even hung on my bulletin board in my college dorm room for a while. I know I am not alone when I say that something about the painting spoke to me that was quite visceral, but difficult to articulate.” 

In the mid-1990s, Holsten was contacted by painter Bo Bartlett to help him create a documentary film about Andrew Wyeth. The film, titled Snow Hill (after one of Andrew Wyeth’s paintings), was commissioned by the artist’s wife, Betsy Wyeth. Betsy Wyeth was the force behind much of the storytelling about Andrew Wyeth that was created during his lifetime.

Holsten adds, “Working on Snow Hill was my first introduction to Wyeth’s world. I journeyed with Bo to Chadds Ford many times. I met Andrew Wyeth (briefly) and went to meetings with Betsy Wyeth in the one-room schoolhouse that she had transformed into her office. At night, I sifted through his father N.C. Wyeth’s letters, and helped Bo shape a script for the film. It was all very thrilling.”

“Snow Hill does a beautiful job of seeing Wyeth’s world through Andrew Wyeth’s eyes. However, with the exception of Snow Hill, which was made while Andrew Wyeth was alive, there has not yet been a film that took stock of the totality of his life,” said the release. “Wyeth is the first documentary that explores the full scope of Andrew Wyeth’s life and artistic method.”

In post-production, producer Chayne Gregg and Director Holsten worked closely with editor Vic Carreno and composer Michael Aharon to shape a story that was revealed layer by layer, much in the way Andrew Wyeth created his exquisite master paintings – meticulous study followed by layer upon layer of tempera.

“I made this film in hopes that audiences would discover the depth and richness in an artist that they thought they knew, but perhaps never really took the time to understand,” said Holsten.

I’m just appalled and amazed at the way in which people are interested in my paintings. I think it’s because I happen to paint things that reflect the basic truths of life: sky, earth, friends, the intimate things. People are drawn to my work by common feelings that go beyond art. A.W. quoted in Time magazine, February 24, 1967

For tickets, please visit www.thewaldotheatre.org/film. Tickets are $10 per adult in advance and $15 at the door. Youth film program tickets are always $5. Concessions will be available.