Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Heron
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: ca. 1936 / 1937
Dimensions:
40 1/8 × 30 in. (101.9 × 76.2 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1293
Research Number: NCW: 1293
InscribedN. C. WYETH (underlined) / TO CAROLIN J. CHANDLER (name underlined and misspelled) / JUNE 1942; each stretcher stamped: BAY STATE STRETCHER / Made by / Wadsworth Howland & Co. (with Puritan bust logo)
ProvenanceThe artist; after 1937, "Circulating Picture Club" of Philadelphia Art Alliance; reclaimed by artist, and gift to Caroline J. Chandler, June, 1942; descended in family to 2012; (Thomaston, Me, Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, Aug. 25-26, 2012, lot no. 100);
Exhibition HistoryHarrisburg, PA, State Library and Museum, "Oils by Pennsylvania Painters," July and August, 1937, no. 49, as "The Heron"
References
Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), P.51, p. 823
Curatorial RemarksThe Special Collections Department of the Van Pelt Library, University of Pennsylvania, holds paperwork that documents the organization of the Harrisburg exhibition, including a typed exhibition list and one half of a card set used to identify all the paintings selected. (The other half of the card set was presumably attached to the back of the painting.) The Harrisburg exhibition was organzied by Henry C. Pitz, who later wrote several essays about N. C. Wyeth.
The "Circulating Picture Club" of the Philadelphia Art Alliance loaned artwork to individuals, schools, and businesses in the Philadelphia area. The club was in operation from 1925 - 1940 (courtesy Maggie Kruesi, Special Collections Dept, Van Pelt Library, University of Pennsylvania).
In his studio, N. C. Wyeth displayed a stuffed blue heron, presumably a local speciman. The heron appears in a 1944 sketch Andrew Wyeth did of his father's studio, and it remains in the N. C. Wyeth studio collection (see NCWS.95.2000). Although no written references to the speciman have been found and nothing dates its acquisition, it is tempting to think that the bird depicted in the present work is the same heron.;It is most likely that this is a reused canvas; pentimenti and brush strokes on the surface have no relation to the image. As of May 2010, no positive identification of the underimage has been made. One suggestion is that Wyeth turned the canvas 90 degrees (with the heron's feet to his left) and painted over a discarded seascape, incorporating much of the underpainting into the second design.
The "Circulating Picture Club" of the Philadelphia Art Alliance loaned artwork to individuals, schools, and businesses in the Philadelphia area. The club was in operation from 1925 - 1940 (courtesy Maggie Kruesi, Special Collections Dept, Van Pelt Library, University of Pennsylvania).
In his studio, N. C. Wyeth displayed a stuffed blue heron, presumably a local speciman. The heron appears in a 1944 sketch Andrew Wyeth did of his father's studio, and it remains in the N. C. Wyeth studio collection (see NCWS.95.2000). Although no written references to the speciman have been found and nothing dates its acquisition, it is tempting to think that the bird depicted in the present work is the same heron.;It is most likely that this is a reused canvas; pentimenti and brush strokes on the surface have no relation to the image. As of May 2010, no positive identification of the underimage has been made. One suggestion is that Wyeth turned the canvas 90 degrees (with the heron's feet to his left) and painted over a discarded seascape, incorporating much of the underpainting into the second design.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:digital image directly from painting
Photo Credit:Courtesy of Sarah Fisher