Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Men of Concord, cover illustration
Alternate Title(s):Men of Concord; Day After Election
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1936
Dimensions:
38 3/4 × 32 in. (98.4 × 81.3 cm)
Brandywine River Museum of Art, Gift of Amanda K. Berls, 1980
Accession number: 80.3.37
Copyright: © Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Label Copy:
Wyeth designed the cover image of Men of Concord and some others As Portrayed In the Journal of Henry David Thoreau (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1936) to capture the attention of a prospective reader. Using techniques he had learned from Howard Pyle and perfected decades earlier, he masterfully drew the reader into the discussion and thus into the book itself. By making two of the Concordians look directly at the viewer, the artist engaged the viewer/reader in the conversation. Before the reader opened the book, Wyeth conveyed an inclusionary tone born of his own conviction that Thoreau’s writings were of pertinent and practical value for everyone.
The scene is the only one of the Men of Concord illustrations that is not based on a journal entry, and only two of the figures can be identified with certainty: a young Thoreau, in brown jacket and black tie, looks directly at the viewer, while Ralph Waldo Emerson, wearing a tall hat, stands next to him. The doorway recalls Concord’s architectural heritage but does not seem to have been drawn from a specific source.
Wyeth designed the cover image of Men of Concord and some others As Portrayed In the Journal of Henry David Thoreau (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1936) to capture the attention of a prospective reader. Using techniques he had learned from Howard Pyle and perfected decades earlier, he masterfully drew the reader into the discussion and thus into the book itself. By making two of the Concordians look directly at the viewer, the artist engaged the viewer/reader in the conversation. Before the reader opened the book, Wyeth conveyed an inclusionary tone born of his own conviction that Thoreau’s writings were of pertinent and practical value for everyone.
The scene is the only one of the Men of Concord illustrations that is not based on a journal entry, and only two of the figures can be identified with certainty: a young Thoreau, in brown jacket and black tie, looks directly at the viewer, while Ralph Waldo Emerson, wearing a tall hat, stands next to him. The doorway recalls Concord’s architectural heritage but does not seem to have been drawn from a specific source.
Research Number: NCW: 368
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined); on reverse, in NCW's hand: NOTICE / DO NOT REMOVE THIS PANEL / FROM FROM (sic) FRAME UNDER / ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. / N. C(covered by new support) APPLY NO (underlined) VASELINE OR VARNISH / OF ANY KIND--WILL RUIN PAINT / N.C.W.; Renaissance panel label adhered to panel, no. 406, dated 11/20/35; (Knoedler's) label adhered to panel: NO. 54855 / PICTURE; label removed by conservator and encased in plastic: "Cover Design for 'Men of Concord' "/ by NEWELL CONVERS WYETH / Loaned by Amanda K. Berls
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; (Knoedler Galleries, New York, NY, through at least 12/64); Amanda K. Berls
Exhibition HistoryUtica, NY, 1938; New York, NY, 1957, no. 70; Lubbock, TX, 1959, no. 15; Southampton, NY, 1966, no numbers; New York, NY, Coe Kerr Gallery, "A Tribute to American Realism, The Collection of Amanda K. Berls and Ruth A. Yerion," Jan. 7-31, 1976, illus., unpaginated; Chadds Ford, PA, 1980, no. 78, pages 33, 36, 63; Easton, MD, Academy of the Arts, "America's Storytellers: N. C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle", Dec. 2, 1999 - Jan. 22, 2000; 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"; Rockland, Maine, Farnsworth Art Museum, "Every Picture Tells a Story," April 27-Dec. 30, 2013; Concord, MA, Concord Museum, N. C. Wyeth's Men of Concord, April 15 - September 18, 2016, ps.32, 33;
References
Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950," unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 25; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 220; Brandywine River Museum, Catalogue of the Collection, 1969-1989 (Chadds Ford, PA: Brandywine Conservancy, 1991), p. 215, b/w illustration p. 215; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1206, p. 548
Curatorial RemarksOnly two of the figures in this group can be indentified with any certainty, the young Thoreau in brown suit and hat looking out at the viewer, and Ralph Waldo Emerson, in the tall hat next to Thoreau.
In a 1950 inventory of paintings in Wyeth's studio (Wyeth Family Archives), the measurements of this painting are listed as 43 x 32"-- the missing 4 inches may have been additional space for the title block that was subsequently removed.
In the Study Center of the Brandywine River Museum of Art is a mounted tear sheet of the image, presumably from N. C. Wyeth's studio. On the reverse of the mat in NCW's hand is written "Day After Election."
Betsy James Wyeth associates a drawing in her collection, NCW 2246.255, with this painting, and asserts that the model for the hands was Andrew Wyeth.
In a 1950 inventory of paintings in Wyeth's studio (Wyeth Family Archives), the measurements of this painting are listed as 43 x 32"-- the missing 4 inches may have been additional space for the title block that was subsequently removed.
In the Study Center of the Brandywine River Museum of Art is a mounted tear sheet of the image, presumably from N. C. Wyeth's studio. On the reverse of the mat in NCW's hand is written "Day After Election."
Betsy James Wyeth associates a drawing in her collection, NCW 2246.255, with this painting, and asserts that the model for the hands was Andrew Wyeth.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting