Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Bright and Fair
Alternate Title(s):Eight Bells, Port Clyde, Maine
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1936
Dimensions:
42 3/8 × 52 1/4 in. (107.6 × 132.7 cm)
Collection of the Farnsworth Art Museum
Museum purchase, 1989
Accession number: SUPP2000.529
Research Number: NCW: 529
InscribedLower right.: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; Carolyn Wyeth; (Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE, 1989)
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1937(2), no. 20; West Chester, PA, 1938(1), no. 38; Portland, ME, 2000, illustration in color, fig. 19, p. 32; Rockland, ME, 2001; Kalamazoo, MI, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, "The Wyeths, America's Artists," Jan. 15-April 17, 2011; Rockland, ME, Farnsworth Art Museum, "N. C. Wyeth: Painter," May 21-Dec. 31, 2016; Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum of Art, June 22-Sept. 15, 2019 (and Portland, ME, Portland Museum of Art, Oct. 4, 2019-Jan. 12, 2020, and Cincinnati, OH, Taft Museum, Feb. 8-May 3, 2020), "N. C. Wyeth: New Perspectives," illus. p. 183
References
Marshall Gantt, "Exhibition of Wilmington Artists Covers Wide Scope," (Wilmington, DE) Journal Every Evening, Nov. 4, 1937, p. 10; "Home Artists Have Part In Art Exhibit," (West Chester, PA) Daily Local News, June 9, 1938, ps. 1, 3; Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950," unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 75; Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), p. 755; David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth, A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), illustration in color after p. 372; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), L.193, p. 764; James D. Balestrieri, "Lesson in Form," American Fine Art Magazine, #28 (July/August 2016), illust. in color, p. 93; Peter Ker, "The Complicated Legacy of N. C. Wyeth," PMA Magazine (Portland, ME: Portland Museum of Art), Fall 2019, illus. p. 21;
Curatorial RemarksEarly exhibition reviews do not describe this painting and the only link between the title and the image is an entry in the 1950 studio inventory: "Bright and Fair" / (Eight Bells - Port Clude, Me.) / oil on canvas / 42 x 52 1/4" (Layton, p. 75). It is possible that at the time of the inventory, "Bright and Fair" may have been inscribed on the reverse of the canvas (wax-lined since at least 1989) or on a label that has been lost. The Wyeth Family holds a photograph of the artist painting this picture (repro. in Betsy James Wyeth, ed., p. 755).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. digital scan directly from painting. 2. N. C. Wyeth with "Bright and Fair" on the easel, "Eight Bells" in the background.
Photo Credit:1. Melville D. McLean; 2. Photographer unknown, Brandywine River Museum photograph files, P107