Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Odyssey of Homer, endpaper illustration
Medium: Ink and gouache on heavy paper
Date: 1929
Dimensions:
13 3/4 × 22 3/4 in. (34.9 × 57.8 cm)
Brandywine River Museum of Art, Bequest of Carolyn Wyeth, 1996
Accession number: 96.1.28
Copyright: © Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Research Number: NCW: 1232
InscribedIn pencil on recto, matting marks; in pencil on verso: The Odyssey-- / Endpaper--; in ink on verso: 85 (circled); label adhered to verso: The Print Club of Philadelphia / 1614 Latimer Street / An Exhibition of Book Illustration / March 27th to April 8th, 1937 / (in ink in NCW's hand) N.C. WYETH / CHADDS FORD PA / END PAPER FOR HOMER'S / "ODYSSEY"
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; Carolyn Wyeth
Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, PA, Print Club of Philadelphia, "An Exhibition of Book Illustration," March 27 - April 8, 1937
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 213-214; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1091, p. 512
Curatorial RemarksThe Wyeth Family Archives includes the copy of the book that N. C. Wyeth read and annotated in preparation for the commission, The Odyssey of Homer, translated by George Herbert Palmer, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1891. The book was found with notes about the commission in NCW's hand, a copy of a letter to Lovell Thompson of Houghton Mifflin dated August 3, 1929, Thompson's reply, dated August 7, 1929, and notes made by NCW for the Illustrator's preface.
This image was used on the folder announcing "A Most Unusual Collection of Original Paintings Showing Some of the Recent Experiments of N. C. Wyeth," an exhibition on view in the galleries of the American Lithographic Company, Inc., New York (Brandywine River Museum library, #4840). The year is not given.
Besides displaying the original art work at the Print Club exhibition of 1937, Wyeth included a framed reproduction of the image which was for sale but did not sell. (Brandywine River Museum library, N. C. Wyeth archives)
This image was used on the folder announcing "A Most Unusual Collection of Original Paintings Showing Some of the Recent Experiments of N. C. Wyeth," an exhibition on view in the galleries of the American Lithographic Company, Inc., New York (Brandywine River Museum library, #4840). The year is not given.
Besides displaying the original art work at the Print Club exhibition of 1937, Wyeth included a framed reproduction of the image which was for sale but did not sell. (Brandywine River Museum library, N. C. Wyeth archives)
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from artwork
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 11/2002