One weekend afternoon, just recently, I was outside with my dad, who was watering the rock garden in the front yard which contains masses of rosa ragosa, poppies, day lilies and iris. Having walked outside with a cane and needing to sit because my legs were shaking from exhaustion, I laid down onto the hill which is our front yard. It overlooks the Damariscotta River and a very rural road below.
Suddenly I was brought back to the days when my brother and I would roll down the hill just to the stone wall garden that lines the road. We would never be concerned with the grass stains or insects crawling on our bodies. Laying on my stomach, arms supporting me, I smelled the green grass, absorbed the summer sun, and looked up to see my mother on the front porch of the house, which is on the top of the hill. The white house is 180 years old, given to my parents by my mother's parents.
I think it was the position I was laying, stomach down, supported by my arms, looking up the hill at the house which held so many memories for me that I stopped all thoughts.
Every cell in my mind saw Andrew Wyeth's famous painting, Christina's World. I had remembered building a website once and naming it the same name, and linking the painting at the top of the page. This time, I was the same crippled Christina, for the lack of a better word. As far as my life as come, it was one of the more surreal moments so far.
Upon doing research, Christina Olson and myself, Christina D'Amore, have some things in common. Having grown up not too far from Thomaston, ME, which is about an hour from where I live now, Christina Olson dabbled in teaching as well. Although I grew up an hour from Boston, it seems she was also quite the fiesty, determined spirit too.
Christina's World is the most famous work by American painter Andrew Wyeth (who unfortunately passed last year) and one of the best-known American paintings of the 20th century. Painted in 1948, this tempera work is displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It depicts Christina Olson, who had an undiagnosed muscular deterioration that paralyzed her lower body—likely Polio. She was a strong and independent woman who did not let anything stop her from getting what and where she wanted. She looks at her house, dreading the crawl back but eager for the warmth it holds for her. She, her brother, and Wyeth's neighbors are the subjects of a number of paintings of Wyeth.
Christina Olson was a real person. She was born May 3, 1893 and died January 27, 1968. Except for the last two months of her life, she lived her entire life in the house on the hill in the painting. She lived there with her parents until they died and then lived there with her younger brother, Al until they both had to finally leave the family home in November 1967 because of health reasons. The house is located on a hill at Hathorn Point on the coast of Maine at Cushing. Today, the house is preserved as a tourist attraction. Maybe some
readers have visited the Olson Home.
At age three, Christina was already walking with an odd gait and had difficulty with balance. Her mother wondered if there had been some unknown injury, illness, or undetected birth defect. She encouraged Christina to practice walking straight on the seams of the linoleum on the floor. A few years later, her father took her on a six-hour buggy ride to see a doctor in Rockland, Maine. However, Christina stomped and protested and the doctor was never consulted.
She progressed through school and was able to walk the mile and a half to school despite her stumbling gait. The school only had eight grades. Christina was persuaded to attend an additional year because her teacher noted that she was intelligent and curious. The teacher hoped that Christina might become a teacher herself. Because of her mother's failing health, Christina took over managing the sixteen room family home at age thirteen. She excelled in homemaking skills and was an excellent seamstress. She also was the master of many nautical skills. Still, at age thirteen, her unnatural, stumbling gait was very evident.
Perhaps, the happiest years of her life were between ages 19 and 24. Many families spent summers in the area and in 1912 Christina met and fell in love with a young man who attended Harvard. They exchanged many letters during the winters and spent time together during the summers. In 1917, this young man stopped writing. He had met another young woman and married. In one of his letters to Christina, he had written "She can row a boat, climb a tree, harness a horse, and drive a carriage. She outshines me in everything here at Cushing." The young man was a scholar, and Christina was able to communicate intellectually with him.
Christina's disability progressed as she got older. In her twenties, she began to fall often. Her mother made her kneepads to wear under her long dresses. She would not tolerate anyone referring to her as crippled. She would state that she was just lame and could do most everything that anyone else could do. In 1918 (age 25) she enjoyed a trip to Boston. At age twenty-six, she could walk no more than three steps without grabbing an object, her hands were weakening, and she was experiencing exhaustion after ordinary tasks.
After avoiding doctors all her life, she consented to a medical evaluation and was admitted to Boston City Hospital in March 1919 for an evaluation. The doctors were not able to diagnose her condition and told her to keep doing what she was doing. A team of five doctors, including a specialist saw her. Some form of "electrical" treatment was considered, but not done. She was advised to spend as much time outdoors as possible. Christina was relieved, as she had finally done what her parents had wanted for years. Doctors had examined her.
Christina continued to be a master at dressmaking and was a wonderful aunt to her brothers' children. By 1946 (age 53), she was no longer able to stand, had stopped trying to walk, and resorted to crawling. She resisted the use of a wheelchair despite the fact that her own father had begun using a wheelchair as early as 1922. She had a dear friend who lived in a house eight hundred feet away. She could crawl this distance in less than an hour, but would arrive quite fatigued.
Betsy James, who grew up as a friend of the Olson family, married Andrew Wyeth. Wyeth became a familiar person around the Olson farm and many of his paintings involve Olson farm sites. In 1948 Wyeth sketched Christina as she crawled down the hill to visit her parent's graves. The dress she wears in the painting is one she made and wore a few years earlier at her nephew's wedding. Christina was amused by the fame of the painting. After Christina's death, Betsy Wyeth stated, "She was a great friend who never asked for or expected anything and gave unconditionally."
Staff at the museum in Farnsworth, Maine simply state that Christina Olson's disability is unknown, but that she probably had some type of degenerative disorder. According to the museum, she did not have polio, but this is not known for certain. Currently at the Farnsworth Museum, there is an exhibit of photographs pertaining to the Olson House. Commentary about the photographs includes the following:
"Concerning the 1918 photograph of Christina and her mother, she had made the trip to Boston earlier that year to consult doctors on her increasing disability. She was told that the best cure for her condition was a quiet life in the country. Christina was stricken with what is believed to have been polio as a child."
The description of her symptoms is somewhat suggestive of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, which is a hereditary disorder that involves a bilateral weakness in the muscles of the lower legs. Friedreich's Ataxia is another possibility. Her disorder may have been a mild form of cerebral palsy. Polio still remains a possible explanation. Christina's decline as she grew older is also suggestive of Post-Polio Syndrome, but the same decline might also occur with other neuromuscular disorders.
Whatever the disorder, Christina's adjustment and denial of her disability are similar to that of many polio children who have grown to adulthood. Her bright mind, her unwillingness to accept help from others, her dislike of assistive devices, and her determination to be normal is very much like the resolve exemplified by polio survivors. In your lifetime since polio, how do you see your world?
"Christina's World" possesses such a haunting quality that it is understandable why so many people know of it and are touched by it. It is immediately discernable in the painting, that Christina is not simply in repose. With her frail legs peeking out from her pink gown and her torso twisted ever so strangely, it is obvious that she is on a mission. Wisps of hair have come loose from her ponytail and float gently in the breeze.
Many of the small details imply determination and courage in Christina's character. It is speculated that she is crawling across her property to visit the graves of her parents. She refused to use a wheelchair and preferred to crawl. Once a sickly child himself, perhaps Wyeth related to Christina on some hidden level. Wyeth contracted whooping cough at a young age, which left him with bronchial problems that made him prone to colds. After completing the third grade, Wyeth's parents took him out of school and home-schooled him until the age of eighteen. Wyeth later indicated that because of his home-schooling and recurrent illnesses, he was left alone a lot of the time. There exits a solitary, yet courageous quality to this painting that perhaps Wyeth needed to impart.
The melancholy and fierce resolve that emanates from this work is intensely mesmerizing and people were and still are drawn to it. The fame of "Christina's World" rose from the mystery that the painting created. Christina's face is not visible, and therefore the viewer is not privy to any emotion that her facial expression would have provided. However, through Andrew Wyeth's mastery with the paintbrush, the painting emanates perseverance and silent strength, and instills in the viewer a desire to learn more about its history and its creator. "Christina's World" captivates your attention and does not let go. In my mind, if I could call out to Christina in the painting, I imagine her turning her head and responding with a smile.
Sources:
http://www.ott.zynet.co.uk/polio/lincolnshire/library/drhenry/christinasworld.html
http://www.ezilon.com/articles/articles/4741/1/Captivated-by-Christinas-World
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