Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Our Emblem
Alternate Title(s):Eagle of American Patriotism; Spirit of Freedom; For Freedom
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1942
Dimensions:
30 × 22 5/8 in. (76.2 × 57.5 cm)
Courtesy of Brigham Young University Museum of Art. All Rights Reserved
© Brown & Bigelow, Inc., St. Paul, Minnesota
Accession number: SUPP2000.2094
Research Number: NCW: 2094
InscribedLower left: B & B / © / U S A (all surrounded by a rectangle) / N. C. WYETH (underlined); Renaissance panel label adhered to reverse, no. 941, dated 10/4/40
ProvenanceBrown & Bigelow, St. Paul, MN, 1942; Frederick R. Hinckley, Sr., to 1985
Exhibition HistoryRockland, ME, 2000, color illustration, fig. 44
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 290; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), C.151, p. 688-689; Cécile Whiting, “Andrew Wyeth and Birds of War,” Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art 7, no. 2 (Fall 2021), https://doi.org/10.24926/24716839.12367;
Curatorial RemarksIn August, 1942, Wyeth recieved explicit instructions regarding the composition of this painting: "At the bottom...a small village with the red of the sunrise that will suggest the red stripe in our flag. This tone will gradually fade into a pure white...into the lightest tone of blue, gradually going into the deeper values of the same color to the top of the composition, and the blues will be studded with the stars of the night. The American Eagle is to be superimposed over the blue....A long time ago, you illustrated a book of American patriotic poems, by Brander Mathew. Our client has seen this book, and he would like you to paint the eagle as you did for the frontispiece of this book" (American Artists Company to NCW, Wyeth Family Archives, Aug. 10, 1942). The price paid by the client was $1,000.00. NCW 1223 is a composition drawing for the image; the Brandywine River Museum holds a lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.169) that was used in the transfer of the design from paper to panel, and a tear sheet documenting the use of the image by Brown & Bigelow for industry advertising.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Photography directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 6/2001