Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Looking longingly into the grey eyes of Peachy the unattainable
Alternate Title(s):In the Kitchen
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1914
Dimensions:
34 × 25 in. (86.4 × 63.5 cm)
Private collection, Los Angeles, CA, and Arlington, MA
Accession number: SUPP2000.119
Research Number: NCW: 119
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined); inscribed lower right: TO ESTHER from CONVERS
ProvenanceThe artist; Esther Bockius (Mrs. Myron Files); Mrs. Rodney Wood, 1972; (Mary Hunter Gallery, San Francisco, CA, ca. 1975); Dr. and Mrs. Vincent M. Dungan, Visalia, CA
Exhibition HistoryChadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 49, as "In the Kitchen"
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., Inc., 1972), p. 259; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.552, p. 301
Curatorial RemarksAccording to Andrew Wyeth, this scene is set at Windtryst, the Chadds Ford summer home of the Turner family. Mrs. Turner died in June 1903, the same summer the artist became acquainted with her grandson and presumably became familiar with the house. By 1907, the property had been sold, and the Wyeth family rented an apartment there in the summer of 1911 as they waited for their house on Rocky Hill to be completed. Windtryst was destroyed by fire on Sept. 11, 1914. On April 18, 1914, N. C. Wyeth wrote to his mother, "Look in Harper's May number, and in the frontispiece you will see a reminiscent setting. The table does not belong there nor the dishes in the shelves, but the main feature -- door and pantry no doubt you will recognize" (Wyeth Family Archives).
Another reference to this painting, which casts some doubt on the account above, is found in a letter written by Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth to a friend: "A frontispiece in May no. of Harpers by N. C. shows a part of mother's kitchen and also the figure of Stimson." (Alfretta Archibald Butterfield Collection, HZW to "Allie", May 11, 1914, Brandywine River Museum library).
The clock that appears in this painting is recognizably one that was owned by the artist and remains in his studio (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.1554). The table in the painting is modeled after a table (NCWS.95.2079) that is also part of the studio collection.
Another reference to this painting, which casts some doubt on the account above, is found in a letter written by Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth to a friend: "A frontispiece in May no. of Harpers by N. C. shows a part of mother's kitchen and also the figure of Stimson." (Alfretta Archibald Butterfield Collection, HZW to "Allie", May 11, 1914, Brandywine River Museum library).
The clock that appears in this painting is recognizably one that was owned by the artist and remains in his studio (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.1554). The table in the painting is modeled after a table (NCWS.95.2079) that is also part of the studio collection.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Peter Brenner, 7/2000