Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
untitled (proposed cover design for Progressive Farmer Magazine)
Medium: Charcoal on paper
Date: 1942
Dimensions:
42 1/4 x 31 3/4 in. (107.3 x 80.6 cm), approx.
Private collection, Atlanta, GA
Accession number: SUPP2000.2326
Research Number: NCW: 2326
InscribedLower right: N. C. W.
ProvenanceCarolyn Wyeth to 1976; (Frank E. Fowler); Thomas Beard, Atlanta, GA;
Curatorial RemarksIn late 1941, the artist proposed through his commercial agent American Artists Company a cover design for Progressive Farmer of an old man and his grandson carrying pumpkins through a field of shocked corn, a variation on a painting published in 1908 (NCW 129). Correspondence makes it clear that Wyeth submitted the sketch by late February, 1942. Although further correspondence indicates that Clarence Poe, long-time editor and publisher of Progressive Farmer, approved the cover, his art department convinced him that "corn shocks and pumpkins have been used so much that the subject is no longer exciting--at least not in 1942 with a great war enlisting every farmer and farm woman in the cause" (American Artists Company to NCW, March 12, 1942, Wyeth Family Archives). The sketch was returned to the artist.
This drawing was one of a group of drawings from the artist's studio that the Wyeth family consigned to Frank E. Fowler for sale in 1976.
This drawing was one of a group of drawings from the artist's studio that the Wyeth family consigned to Frank E. Fowler for sale in 1976.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:b/w photograph directly from drawing
Photo Credit:Courtesy of Frank E. Fowler