Still Life with Brush

Artist:

N.C. Wyeth

(American, 1882 - 1945)

Still Life with Brush

Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: after 1912
Dimensions:
16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
Private collection, Big Spring, TX
Accession number: SUPP2000.120
Research Number: NCW: 120
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (by Andrew Wyeth; see note); along lower left edge in pencil and upside down: 3/8 (illegible) P. 43
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Schlimme; Paul B. Schlimme; (Christie's, NY, May 26, 1999, lot no. 158); Private collection, Big Spring, TX
Exhibition HistoryHarrisburg, PA, 1965, no. 117; Wilmington, DE, 1968, no. 8; Canaan, NH, Cardigan Mountain School, "Art of Northern New England," Aug. 21-30, 1970, no. 109; Chadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 129; Chadds Ford, PA, 1982, p. 26, no. 39 on p. 54, and illus. in color p. 49; Chadds Ford, PA, 2005
References Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950, " unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 82; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), illus. in color, p. 176; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), S.4, p. 784, 785
Curatorial RemarksUnderneath this still life is NCW 2318, an untitled headpiece illustration on page 43 of The Pike County Ballads (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1912). Pentimenti from the earlier painting are visible to the left of the brush handle. Wyeth must have considered the opportunity to practice his still life technique more valuable than the potential monetary return on a small black and white oil painting that illustrated a book with disappointing sales.
The Harrisburg, PA, 1965, catalogue entry specifies that this still life painting was not signed at the time of the exhibition, when it was loaned by Mrs. N. C. Wyeth. Nicholas Wyeth recalled that it was added later by his father (Nicholas Wyeth to CBP, Feb. 1, 2010)
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:None given on transparency