BRANDYWINE RIVER MUSEUM OPENS KUERNER FARM FOR PUBLIC TOURS
(May 2004; #015)

Beginning April 28, the Brandywine River Museum will offer educational tours of the historic Kuerner Farm. For more than 70 years, the farm has been a major source of inspiration to Andrew Wyeth. Since his earliest painting of the farm in 1932 at the age of 15, Wyeth has found subjects in its people, animals, buildings and landscapes for nearly 1,000 works of art. Guided tours of the farm will allow visitors to explore Andrew Wyeth's art and view areas of the property depicted in many of his works.

Through November 21, tours will be offered at timed intervals, Wednesday through Sunday. The tour fee is $5 per person in addition to museum admission. The tours will depart from the Brandywine River Museum by shuttle bus. Due to uneven walking surfaces, the Kuerner Farm is not accessible to disabled individuals.

On one of his boyhood walks, Andrew Wyeth discovered Karl and Anna Kuerner's farm, located approximately one mile from his parents' home in Chadds Ford. Wyeth was intrigued by the Kuerners, who emigrated from Germany, and by Karl Kuerner's stories of his service in the German army during World War I. The Kuerners had strong ties to their heritage, continuing to speak German and socializing mostly with other German immigrants. Andrew Wyeth was one exception. As a young artist, he developed a close relationship with the Kuerners, and after years of gaining their trust, he was permitted to roam the property freely- even inside the house- to draw and paint.
Many of Wyeth's best-known works of art have emerged from his long fascination with the farm, including Winter 1946 (1946), Groundhog Day (1959), Evening at Kuerners (1970), Young Bull (1960), Spring Fed (1967), and Overflow (1978). Reproductions of these works will be viewed on the tour, along with parts of the house, barn and property to demonstrate how Wyeth alters the physical details of a site in order to communicate a particular idea.

Coinciding with the opening of public tours to the Kuerner Farm, the Brandywine River Museum presents a special exhibition, The Kuerner Farm, from April 28 through November 21, 2004. Installed in one of two new museum galleries, the exhibition features photographs, drawings, paintings and historic artifacts related to this extraordinary Brandywine Valley farm.

The Kuerner Farm was acquired by the Brandywine Conservancy, the Brandywine River Museumís parent organization, in 1999 and will open in conjunction with the completion of the Conservancy's two-year facilities expansion project. Results of the $25 million project include two new galleries and a classroom in the Brandywine River Museum, renovations to two buildings for the Conservancyís Environmental Management Center, a new membership and development office building, and a new support and maintenance building.

Founded in 1967, the Brandywine Conservancy is a nonprofit organization that preserves art and environmental resources, primarily of the Brandywine Valley. The Conservancyís Brandywine River Museum is internationally known for its collection of works by three generations of Wyeths, illustration, still life and landscape art. Since its opening exhibition in 1971, the museum has introduced millions of visitors to the Brandywine Valley's rich artistic heritage. For more information about the Brandywine Conservancy, call 610-388-2700.

KUERNER FARM CHRONOLOGY

1898 Karl Kuerner is born in the village of Neuffen in Wurtenberg, Germany.

1917 At 19 years old, Karl, a German machine gunner during World War I, is severely wounded in the arm during heavy fighting on the front lines. The same year, Andrew Wyeth is born in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. He is the youngest of illustrator N.C. Wyeth's five children.

1918 After Germany's loss at the Battle of Verdun, Karl returns to civilian life as a sheepherder near the Black Forest.

1922 Louise Kuerner is born, the first child of Karl and his bride, Anna Faulhaber Kuerner. The couple would ultimately have four daughters and one son, Karl Kuerner, Jr.

Karl sails to America, leaving Anna and Louise in Germany. Karl works in a Philadelphia slaughterhouse for two years.

1925 Anna and Louise sail to America with money saved and sent by Karl. Living in Philadelphia, Anna grows depressed and homesick for the German village where she grew up. The city disturbs her and, as a result, she shows her first signs of social withdrawal.

Karl and his family move to Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, renting the farm that they would work and call home for the rest of their lives. The farm is located approximately one third of a mile from Turner's Mill, where illustrator Howard Pyle taught his famous art school during the summers of 1898 to 1903. One half mile away was "Windtryst" where Pyle's student, N.C. Wyeth, rented an apartment before building his own house and studio, roughly a mile from the Kuerner Farm.

At 15 years old, Andrew Wyeth completes his first painting of the Kuerner Farm. This work in oil marks the beginning of the Kuerner Farm's influence on Andrew Wyeth as an important source of artistic inspiration for almost seven decades.

1940 After 14 years of frugal living and hard work, Karl buys the farm. By this time, however, Anna is extremely reclusive, even to Karl's German friends who visit on Sundays.

N.C. Wyeth and his young grandson are killed when their car is hit by a train at a railroad crossing, adjacent to the Kuerner Farm.

1948 Karl salvages a cache of green serpentine rock from N.C. Wyeth's former residence, "Windtryst," after it burns down. The stones are used to construct the entrance posts, several walls and a chimney at the Kuerner Farm.

1971 Andrew Wyeth begins to paint Helga Testorf, a German immigrant who helps the Kuerner family care for the aging Karl.

1976 Wyeth at Kuerners, written by Betsy James Wyeth, is published by Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA). The large book contains 376 pencil, drybrush, watercolor, oil and tempera pictures by Andrew Wyeth of the Kuerner Farm exclusively. Instead of being arranged chronologically by the dates they were painted, the images are placed geographically as if the reader is walking through the property.

1987 More than 240 works by Andrew Wyeth of Helga Testorf, many painted at the Kuerner Farm, are exhibited at the National Gallery of Art.

The Brandywine Conservancy formally acquires the Kuerner Farm.

2004 The Brandywine River Museum opens the Kuerner Farm to public tours.

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