Jamie Wyeth’s gulls and the human condition

In the summer of 2007, the exhibition of Jamie Wyeth’s “The Seven Deadly Sins” was on exhibit at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, Maine. I happen to be visiting Rockland at the time and was fortunate enough to see the exhibit. Wyeth had observed seagulls displaying all seven deadly sins: pride, envy, anger, greed, sloth, gluttony, and lust from his island studios on Monhegan and Matinicus islands in Maine. I was mesmerized by the exhibit.

Jamie is the son of Andrew Wyeth, famous for his iconic “Helga” pictures of the 1980s. Jamie’s grandfather was N.C. Wyeth, noted illustrator for many publications, including "Treasure Island," "Robin Hood" and "The Last of the Mohicans." Many other Wyeth family members are artists as well. Jamie Wyeth continues the family legacy as a political painter of Americana in the mid-20th century. Many of his commissions and paintings are of nature. Jamie’s most common subjects are birds.

At the time, I distinctly remember my travel companion saying to me, who in the world would spend enough time observing birds, especially seagulls, to see them act out a bunch of sins? I laughed about this statement. I had no idea I, too, would come to spend a tremendous amount of time watching birds and noticing their characteristics later in life. But here I am, watching and writing about birds, frequently. And, yes, they do display behavior that can be interpreted as deadly sins, just like many humans.

Human frailty, codified as the seven deadly sins, has long been associated with the history of Christian art. Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote about them in the 13th century. Dante used the seven deadly sins in his "Divine Comedy" as did Chaucer in the "The Canterbury Tales." In C.S. Lewis's seven "Chronicles of Narnia," each book represents one of the deadly sins.

However, it is the surreal paintings of Cadmus completed in 1949 that inspired Jaime Wyeth to create his series on the theme. Wyeth said “gulls are nasty birds, filled with their own jealousies and rivalries” in an interview about the paintings at the Farnsworth Museum.

Each painting of the seven deadly sins by Wyeth are alive with color. They capture the actions of seagulls committing each sin with bold detail. Wyeth painted each deadly sin as portrayed by the seagulls on cardboard to bring out the white in their feathers.

Pride is represented as a feeling of superiority over others. In the painting, Wyeth paints a seagull with a red lobster hanging from his beak. The natural color for a lobster fresh out of the water is brown. It is only when the lobster is cooked that it turns red. Perhaps Wyeth chose to use a red lobster, emphasizing how superior the seagull feels in the painting.

Sloth is represented as physical or mental inactivity, sometimes referred to as just plain laziness. However, the drop of red blood on the beak tells me the fat seagull has eaten all he can. He has become sluggish and seems quite content to sit back as others devour what remains of a dismembered human leg. Truly, I am at a loss when considering why a dismembered leg is the meal of choice in this painting.

Greed is represented by a single seagull eating blueberry pie with what appears to be whipped cream with a cherry on top. Dozens of seagulls stand by, hoping for a chance to steal a bite of the treat for themselves.

Envy is represented by two seagulls playfully loving each other in front of a lonely single bird with his eyes closed.

Gluttony is represented by a large seagull trying to stuff an oversized fish into its beak. In the painting, the seagull is standing in the middle of many fish, some of which would fit nicely into its beak. However, the seagull prefers the largest fish even though he may very well choke on it.

Anger is represented by two seagulls quarrelling with each other. The source of the argument is hidden from view, leaving the observer to guess what they might be fighting over.

Lust is represented by two seagulls in a sexual position. One seagull cries out as the other seagull maintains balance while flapping its wings.

When asked why Wyeth decided to study seagulls and sin he said, “It always bothered me the way gulls have been depicted throughout the years in Maine art. They’re made to look like white doves, and in fact gulls are scavengers. They’re evil.”

Many of you may be asking yourselves why I decided to write about the seven deadly sins as depicted in the lives of seagulls. Well, the simple truth is I feel like many people in modern society fully display each of the seven deadly sins with regularity. And, as a human collective, we have not evolved much further than the seagulls depicted in Wyeth’s paintings.