Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Sitter:
David Lawrence
Sitter:
Andrew Wyeth
(American, 1917 - 2009)
Portrait of a Dog
Alternate Title(s):Andy and Dodo
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1933
Dimensions:
37 1/4 × 52 7/8 in. (94.6 × 134.3 cm)
Brandywine River Museum of Art, Bequest of Carolyn Wyeth, 1996
Accession number: 96.1.35
Label Copy:
This clever painting is a portrait within a portrait, a combination of figures—human and canine—seen from various angles. Young Andrew Wyeth, then fifteen years old, takes pencil in hand to render a portrait of the Wyeth family dog, Lupe. Andrew’s friend David Lawrence holds Lupe in place, while she turns her best side to the artist. In this painting, N. C. Wyeth provides two portraits of the dog: the painted version with head in three-quarter view and the drawn version that Andrew captures in profile.
Research Number: NCW: 198
InscribedUpper left: N C WYETH (underlined) / 1933
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; Carolyn Wyeth
Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, PA, 1935(2), as "Portrait of a Dog"; Chadds Ford, PA, 1973(1); Chadds Ford, PA, 1982, no. 1; Chadds Ford, PA, 1995, no. 16, b/w illustration p. 16
References
"Wyeths Hold One-Family Exhibition," Philadelphia Record, March 31, 1935, 4: p. 6, painting is illustrated in b/w; Richard Layton , "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950," unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 83; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), P.40, p. 818, 819
Curatorial RemarksIn an unidentified Philadelphia newspaper clipping (late March or early April, 1935 by context) found in the artist's studio (Brandywine River Museum library collection), the unnamed reviewer cites this painting as among the "strongest of the compositions" shown at the Art Alliance. The sitters are Andrew Wyeth, his childhood friend David Lawrence, and the Wyeth family dog Lupe.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from painting
On view