Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Sitter:
Carolyn Bockius
The Recipe Book
Alternate Title(s):Mrs. N. C. Wyeth in the Kitchen; Winter Light
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1933
Dimensions:
48 1/8 × 52 1/8 in. (122.2 × 132.4 cm)
Brandywine River Museum of Art, Bequest of Carolyn Wyeth, 1996
Accession number: 96.1.36
Label Copy:
In this unusual portrait by her husband, Carolyn Bockius Wyeth appears to be occupied with her baking, paying no attention to the artist in the room. Painted during an experimental phase of his career, Wyeth expressively toys with perspective in this composition. The wall behind Mrs. Wyeth tilts backward, and the cabinetry leans in toward her. The tabletop in front of her is tipped up, allowing us to see inside her mixing bowl. Mrs. Wyeth seems, at first, inappropriately dressed for the snowy landscape beyond the window. Despite the winter weather outside, Mrs. Wyeth’s baking has no doubt raised the temperature of the small kitchen in the Wyeth’s Chadds Ford home.
In this unusual portrait by her husband, Carolyn Bockius Wyeth appears to be occupied with her baking, paying no attention to the artist in the room. Painted during an experimental phase of his career, Wyeth expressively toys with perspective in this composition. The wall behind Mrs. Wyeth tilts backward, and the cabinetry leans in toward her. The tabletop in front of her is tipped up, allowing us to see inside her mixing bowl. Mrs. Wyeth seems, at first, inappropriately dressed for the snowy landscape beyond the window. Despite the winter weather outside, Mrs. Wyeth’s baking has no doubt raised the temperature of the small kitchen in the Wyeth’s Chadds Ford home.
Research Number: NCW: 122
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH / '33
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; Carolyn Wyeth
Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, PA, 1935(2), as "Winter Light"; West Chester, PA, 1935(2), no. 4 as "The Recipe Book"; Chadds Ford, PA, 1973(1), as "Mrs. N. C. Wyeth in the Kitchen"; Princeton, NJ, 1977, no. 3; Louisville, KY, 1998, no. 6
References
"Wyeths Hold One-Family Exhibition," Philadelphia Record, March 31, 1935, 4: p. 6, as "Winter Light"; C. H. Bonte, "That Gifted Wyeth Family Exhibiting at the Alliance," Philadelphia Inquirer, March 31, 1935, p. SO 9; "'Walden Pond Revisited' Deserves Close Study," (West Chester, PA) Daily Local News, Oct. 16, 1935, p. 7 (available on AAA microfilm roll no. 4003); mentioned in the diary of Mary Edith Hinshaw, summer 1934 (unpublished but excerpted in "The Window," publication of the W. H. Moring, Jr., Arts Center, Asheboro, NC, Fall 1997, vol. 1, issue 4); Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950," unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 93, as "The Recipe Book"; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), P.41, p. 819
Curatorial RemarksExhibited in March 1935 as "Winter Light," the painting was exhibited again in October 1935 as "The Recipe Book." Both Ann Wyeth McCoy and Andrew Wyeth remembered this painting as "The Recipe Book, " and it appeared as such in Richard Layton's 1950 studio inventory. The glass pitcher remains in the collection at the N. C. Wyeth house (NCWS.95.5241).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting