Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Amateurs at War
Date: 1943
Dimensions:
dimensions unavailable
known by reproduction only
Accession number: SUPP2000.1389
Research Number: NCW: 1389
ProvenanceThe artist; donated to Book & Author War Bond Committee, 1943 or early 1944, and placed by the Committee in Children's Room of Springfield (Massachusetts) Public Library
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 227; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1309, p. 588
Curatorial RemarksThis design is similar to another the artist had done recently for a Treasury poster (NCW 1391). Wyeth wrote to Lovell Thompson at Houghton Mifflin Co., "This composition may lean a little heavily upon the Treasury poster design of mine but in the completed panel with the color emphasis I have in mind, I'm sure I can achieve a great deal of this feeling" (NCW to Lovell Thompson, undated but between 3/4 and 3/10/1943, bMS Am 1925 (1962), by permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University). The painting was used to raise money at a war bond rally in June, 1943, and then is reported to have been donated to the children's room of the Springfield (MA) public library (Dorothy Pratt, Book and Author War Bond Committee, to NCW, April 19, 1944, Wyeth Family Archives). Searches at the Springfield Library and at the Museum of Fine Arts (Springfield) have not produced any material that verifies the gift.
The Brandywine River Museum holds the charcoal composition drawing (85.10.109) for this image, and a lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.98) used in the transfer of the design from paper to painting support.
The Brandywine River Museum holds the charcoal composition drawing (85.10.109) for this image, and a lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.98) used in the transfer of the design from paper to painting support.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Digital photography from printed source (Brandywine River Museum library)
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 9/7/2006