Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Eight Bells (Clyde Stanley and Andrew Wyeth aboard Eight Bells)
Medium: Oil on hardboard
Date: 1937
Dimensions:
19 1/4 × 30 in. (48.9 × 76.2 cm)
Bank of America Merrill Lynch Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1737
Research Number: NCW: 1737
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH 1937; on reverse of support: #2
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; Carolyn Wyeth; Private collection, ME; (Gallery-By-The-Sea, Port Clyde, ME, 1998); MBNA America, Wilmington, DE, 1998-2005
Exhibition HistoryRockland, ME, 1999, color illustration p. 13; Paris, Mona Bismarck Foundation, "The Wyeths, Trois generations d'artistes americains," Nov. 10, 2011- Feb. 12, 2012, illus. in color, ps. 96-97; Portland, OR, Portland Museum of Art, "The Wyeths: Three Generations, Works form the Bank of America Collection," Oct. 7, 2017-Jan. 28, 2018;
References
Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950," unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 89; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), P.52, p. 823
Curatorial Remarks"Eight Bells," used by the family for cruising and picnics, was built at N. C. Wyeth's request by Gene Brown of Friendship, Maine, in 1928. The boat is a carvel-planked lobsterboat, round-bottomed with a flat stern, measuring 28' long. It sat in the boat house at Eight Bells during the late years of WW II due to gasoline scarcity and was not taken out before N. C. Wyeth died. Nathaniel Wyeth floated the boat about 1983 and gave it to the Maine Maritime Museum in 1987, where it is displayed every year at the Museum's Kennebec River waterfront in Bath, Maine (boat specifications courtesy Anne Witty, Curator, Maine Maritime Museum).
Clyde Stanley was a local lobsterman who lived in Martinsville. He also worked for the Wyeths as a caretaker at Eight Bells (courtesy of Amy Morey, Wyeth Center).
Andrew Wyeth verified that the painting was constructed in oil paint on a gessoed panel (CR file, BRMA).
Clyde Stanley was a local lobsterman who lived in Martinsville. He also worked for the Wyeths as a caretaker at Eight Bells (courtesy of Amy Morey, Wyeth Center).
Andrew Wyeth verified that the painting was constructed in oil paint on a gessoed panel (CR file, BRMA).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:courtesy of MBNA