Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Sometimes Two or Three Would Make Up a Partnership for the Sake of Greater Safety
Alternate Title(s):They Banded Together for Greater Safety (The Wasteful West)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1905
Dimensions:
16 1/8 × 36 1/8 in. (41 × 91.8 cm)
Brandywine River Museum of Art, Bequest of Edward H. Porter, Jr., 1994
Accession number: 94.2.15
Research Number: NCW: 100
InscribedLower left: WYETH (underlined) / 05; written on reverse of canvas in black: The Tragedy of the Fur Trade / Wyeth / P 6995a; written across top stretcher member (upside down); (in black) 2 213 - 3 (in graphite) THEY BANDED TOGETHER FOR GREATER SAFETY; written along bottom stretcher member (upside down): <--- 4 (two illegible digits) --->; printed label adhered to reverse of frame: No. 10 THEY BANDED TOGETHER FOR GREATER SAFETY. / (The Wasteful West) / Loaned by Mr.and Mrs. Edward H. Porter, Jr.
ProvenanceMr. and Mrs. Edward Porter, ca. 1945-1994
Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, PA, Curtis Publishing Company, Oct. 1905; Harrisburg, PA, 1965, no. 27, as "They Banded Together for Greater Safety (The Wasteful West)" Rockland, ME, 1966, no. 10; Wilmington, DE, 1966, no.33; Chadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 27; Chadds Ford, PA, 1975; Chadds Ford, PA, 2002(2); Rockland, Maine, Farnsworth Art Museum, "Every Picture Tells a Story," April 27-Dec. 30, 2013;
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 272; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.92, p. 129
Curatorial Remarks"The second one (a panel) is about 3 ft. long and a foot high, of prairie schooners "en route"--the later I have just layed in with considerable success" (NCW to Carolyn Bockius, Sept. 7, 1905). For this commission (5 paintings), Wyeth received $275.00, "d____ good for any magazine" (NCW to Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth, "Dear Mama, I know I haven't written" and dated Oct. 1, 1905 in another hand, Wyeth Family Archives).
"The Kit Carson drawings are creating quite a stir at the Curtis Pub. Co., as I saw to-day that they had them all framed in gold and hung on exhibition down in their big hall. They were the only pictures on the wall of deep red plush and I tell you they look pretty well" (NCW to Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth, "Dear Mama, My heavens!..." and dated in another hand Oct. 5, 1905, Wyeth Family Archives).
"The Kit Carson drawings are creating quite a stir at the Curtis Pub. Co., as I saw to-day that they had them all framed in gold and hung on exhibition down in their big hall. They were the only pictures on the wall of deep red plush and I tell you they look pretty well" (NCW to Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth, "Dear Mama, My heavens!..." and dated in another hand Oct. 5, 1905, Wyeth Family Archives).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting