Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Fight in the Forest The battle was now entirely terminated, with the exception of the protracted struggle between Le Renard Subtil and Le Gros Serpent
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1919
Dimensions:
40 1/2 × 32 1/4 in. (102.9 × 81.9 cm)
Brandywine River Museum of Art, Gift of Richard S. du Pont, 1975
Accession number: 75.8
Label Copy:
Intent on establishing himself as a Western artist, Wyeth was keen to interact with Native Americans during his first trip West in 1904. In November, he journeyed through the Indian reservations in southwestern Colorado. His diary, letters, and a group of sensitive pencil portraits document his close observations. With the help of the costumes and props he kept in his studio, Wyeth drew on his experiences to become a noted illustrator of Native American life, especially during the first decade of his career. Yet as the second decade of his career closed, Wyeth, by then an acclaimed illustrator of novels of adventure and romance, adopted a much less realistic view of Native Americans. The Fight in the Forest is primarily a celebration of action and color, not sensitivity or accuracy.
Intent on establishing himself as a Western artist, Wyeth was keen to interact with Native Americans during his first trip West in 1904. In November, he journeyed through the Indian reservations in southwestern Colorado. His diary, letters, and a group of sensitive pencil portraits document his close observations. With the help of the costumes and props he kept in his studio, Wyeth drew on his experiences to become a noted illustrator of Native American life, especially during the first decade of his career. Yet as the second decade of his career closed, Wyeth, by then an acclaimed illustrator of novels of adventure and romance, adopted a much less realistic view of Native Americans. The Fight in the Forest is primarily a celebration of action and color, not sensitivity or accuracy.
Research Number: NCW: 36
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceCharles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY; (?); Clifton Waller Barrett, ?-1971 (and with Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1968-1970); Richard S. du Pont, Greenville, DE, 1971-1975
Exhibition HistoryChadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 21; Brookings, SD, 1973, no. 20; Bridgeport, CT, 1974, no. NC2; Chadds Ford, PA 1976(1); Los Angeles, CA, Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, "The American Personality: Artist-Illustrators of Life in America, 1860-1930," Oct. 12 - Dec. 12, 1976 (also, Fort Worth, TX, Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, July 8 - Aug. 22, 1976), p. 34, no. 267 on p. 140, illus. b/w p. 94; San Mateo, CA, 1977, La Galeria, "An American Dynasty," May 1 - June 15, 1977; Morristown, NJ, 1983, no. 3; Elmira, NY, 1986, ps. 9, 28 and illus. in color p. 11; Chadds Ford, PA, 1987(1), catalogue p. 32, checklist p. 27; Lititz, PA, 1995; Akron, OH, Akron Museum of Art, June 15 - Sept. 1, 2002, and Lawrence, KS, Spencer Museum of Art, Sept. 21 - Nov. 17, 2002, "N. C. Wyeth from the Brandywine River Museum Collection"
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 202, color illustration p. 105; Wanda M. Corn, The Art of Andrew Wyeth (Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society, 1973), b/w illustration p. 119; Carol Billman, "N. C. Wyeth," American History Illustrated, vol. XX, no. 10 (Feb. 1986), color illustration p. 30; Michele H. Bogart, "Artistic Ideals and Commercial Practices: The Problem of Status for American Illustrators," published in Prospects: An Annual of American Cultural Studies, Vol. 15, (1990), b/w illustration p. 257; Brandywine River Museum, Catalogue of the Collection, 1969-1989 (Chadds Ford, PA: Brandywine Conservancy, 1991), p. 210, b/w illustration p. 202; Colonel Raymond K. Bluhm, Jr., ed., U.S. Army A Complete History (Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc., 2004), illustration in color, p. 24; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.752, p. 383, 384; Irene M. K. Rawlings, "Illustration's Golden Age," Style 1900, vol. 22, no.4 (Winter 2009-10), p. 55
Curatorial RemarksIn preparation for this commission, the artist read and marked an edition published by A. L. Burt (Brandywine River Museum of Art, NCWS.95.4334).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Peter Ralston, www.pralston.com