Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Converted Barn
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: ca. 1908
Dimensions:
25 × 30 in. (63.5 × 76.2 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.2034
Research Number: NCW: 2034
InscribedLower right: N C WYETH (underlined); written in marking pen on top stretcher member: N C WYETH STUDIO IN CHADDS FORD WHERE HE PAINTED TREASURE IS; written in pencil along bottom stretcher member (possibly Carolyn Wyeth's hand): NEAR THE CHADDS FORD INN A FORMER BARN HE PUT IN STUDIO WINDOW CIRCA 1908
ProvenanceMrs. N. C. Wyeth; Carolyn Wyeth; (Frank E. Fowler, 1984); Private collection, MD, 1984 - 1995; (Vose Galleries, Boston, MA); (Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE, 1995-1996)
Exhibition HistoryNew York, NY, 1995, no. 19; Greenville, DE, 1995; Chadds Ford, PA, 1997, no numbers; Greenville, DE, Somerville Manning Gallery, "N. C. Wyeth: Painter and Illustrator," June 14-Sept. 14, 2019;
References
Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), ps. 221, 222 and 271; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), L.26, p. 709
Curatorial RemarksPlanning to move permanently to Chadds Ford in the spring of 1908, in October 1907 Wyeth arranged to rent a farm just east of the village. The property had two barns, one of which he used as a studio (Betsy James Wyeth, ed., ps. 221 and 222). The family moved in early April, and it is likely that Wyeth began then to complete whatever work he needed to convert the barn: "the little barn...is now a carriage house--square and about 28' by 22'. So you see there will be little for me to do but to sink in a skylight, and besides it's a four-slope roof to a cupola and one roof is exactly north. The walls are 2-foot through and of stone."
In September 1908, he wrote: My studio is completed for winter (except for a stove) and I consider it better in many respects to any one of the studios in town. The place is entirely sheathed on the inside, besides heavy papers underneath--a new floor over the old one and new heavy doors, that clamp practically air-tight, with windows in them. My working light is perfect, and it should be that my work hereafter impoves to do justice to the surroundings (Betsy James Wyeth, p. 271).
In September 1908, he wrote: My studio is completed for winter (except for a stove) and I consider it better in many respects to any one of the studios in town. The place is entirely sheathed on the inside, besides heavy papers underneath--a new floor over the old one and new heavy doors, that clamp practically air-tight, with windows in them. My working light is perfect, and it should be that my work hereafter impoves to do justice to the surroundings (Betsy James Wyeth, p. 271).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Photography directly from art work
Photo Credit:Courtesy of Somerville Manning Gallery