Page 51 - The Hunt - Fall 2024

Peter Sculthorpe is perhaps the best-known Brandywine Valley realist painting today.
Well, if you define realism as representational art, plenty of artists are still doing that around here. “There is a spectrum locally of [representational] styles between ultra-real to the very vague,”
says painter Alice Dustin, who’s represented by Wilmington’s Carspecken-Scott Gallery. “My paintings are halfway in between.”
In fact, the argument can be made that there
is a new, revitalized realism blossoming in the Brandywine region—one that exercises the full palette of possibilities, going beyond the solely photographic quality the term “realism” invokes.
Just as important, there is still a demand for this work among collectors and the general public. “A strong market exists for regional representationalism, whether in a tight realism or with looser brushwork,” says Rebecca Moore, director of Wilmington’s Somerville Manning Gallery, which represents a variety of artists, including Wyeths past and present. “It waned a bit in the early 2010s, moving to more abstract works. But over the last few years, we’ve
noticed an uptick in collectors’ interest in realism and representationalism again.”
Perhaps the most realistic and best-known is Peter Sculthorpe, whose studio is along the Brandywine at Rockland. Now in his 70s, he has not slowed down, either on his bike (now electric) or with his painting. “I’m working on two large paintings now, and I’m anticipating a new exhibit in November 2025,”
he says.
Though his style and attention to detail is
sometimes compared to Andrew Wyeth, Sculthorpe tends to be less somber in color and tone and certainly less self-referential. “I’m a pretty classical painter—right in the middle of realism with no exaggerated style," he says. “I like to think of my style as being very readable and pretty basic.”
Sculthorpe believes most people are more comfortable looking at paintings that are relatable to them in some way. “And the art world is always very slow to change,” he notes.
As far as his manner of working goes, “I just get
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