Michael Hurd 1995

Michael Hurd Biography

Michael Hurd is the youngest son of Peter Hurd and Henriette Wyeth. Michael has followed in a long line of Wyeth artists, and today he stands as a painter in his own right. Although painting dominated his family environment and his parents' lives, Michael was never encouraged to study art. His father knew it was difficult to make a living and wished Michael would pursue a business career instead. He listened to his father's suggestions, graduated from Stanford University and attended a Chicago business school.

Peter Hurd and Henriette Wyeth 1944

After college he was drawn back to the arts and he began to have an inclination for visually interesting objects and settings. Under the direction and guidance of his mother, he was painting seriously by his early twenties. He has commendably adapted her technique in oil painting and was named New Mexico's Distinguished Artist for 1995. Michael continues the Wyeth Hurd tradition of painting, yet his work presents a unique character of its own. Just as his parents did throughout their lives, Michael paints and lives on Sentinel Ranch. His work contains traces of his parents' artistic talents and interests, yet Michael merges these attributes to achieve a distinctive result. South Window at Polo House is a scene Michael painted at the family ranch.

Lost Trail at White Sands

He works from reality, as have all the Wyeth and Hurd painters, and believes the actual subject must be experienced if it is to be accurately conveyed in a painting. The still life compositions of his mother and landscape scenes of his father combine in Michael's work. A sofa and plants dominate the foreground, yet the landscape in the window is an integral part of the painting. Michael gives emotion to the objects as well as the landscape; they become larger than life while maintaining a quality of mystery.

Los Chileros

Crossroads is predominately composed of a landscape. Michael studies subjects for a great deal of time before he begins to paint. On site he generates sketches in pencil or charcoal and watercolors of his subject. These initial observations demonstrate Michael's similarity to his father. Peter Hurd's sketches of this type are as masterful as his finished paintings, yet Michael's studies are merely a resource.

Sotero's Orchard

By interpreting his sketches, Michael creates larger finished works back at his studio. His mother's objects and sense of sentimentality are still present in Michael's railroad sign and building. He has absorbed his parents' talents while creating his own painting style. One may see influences in Michael's work but the result is entirely his own. Although he does not deny his heritage or the effect it has had on his work, Michael's fulfillment comes when someone who is unaware of his identity or background notices his work.

The Open Door 1994

"I want to leave open ends, nuances, even ambiguities for the viewer to resolve. I have a conviction about the viewer being an integral part of the painting's working function and don't want to define meanings so tightly they are inescapable."