Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Red Cross Magazine, cover illustration
Alternate Title(s):In France, 1918
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1918
Dimensions:
36 × 36 in. (91.4 × 91.4 cm)
The Textor Family
Accession number: SUPP2000.1245
Research Number: NCW: 1245
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceThe artist (sold during Wilmington, DE, 1919, exhibition); Miss Ethel du Pont (Mrs. H. M. Barksdale), Wilmington, DE; descended in family
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1919, no. 25, as "In France, 1918"
References
(Wilmington, DE) Sunday Star, "Mr. N. C. Wyeth," Feb. 2, 1919, p. 22; "War Paintings in City Art Exhibit," (Wilmington, DE) Evening Journal, Feb. 4, 1919, p. 11; "Fine Arts Exhibit Attracts Especial Interest this Year," (Wilmington, DE) Morning News, Feb. 5, 1919, p. 12; "Much Interest in City Art Exhibit," (Wilmington, DE) Evening Journal, Feb. 6, 1919, p. 14; "Red Cross Opens Drive For Its Own Magazine," Delmarva Sunday Star, Feb. 9, 1919, p. 22 and section 2:p. 1; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 271Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.737, p. 377
Curatorial RemarksThe picture is not titled on the front of the magazine, nor in the table of contents, where the "cover" is credited to N. C. Wyeth.
At the WSFA exhibition of 1919, the picture won the special prize of $50.00 offered by Mrs. T. Coleman du Pont for the "best war painting." "The prize picture...was not the Red Cross picture he had hoped to show, but another very like it in treatment. It was awarded the prize...chiefly because it depicted the embodiment of an abstract idea rather than a particular incident." (Delmarva Sunday Star, Feb. 9, 1919)
"My Red Cross cover of the American soldier helping a wounded poilu and at one side the crucifix, took the war picture prize, and this one I sold for 500.00 at that, so I cannot complain!" (NCW to Sidney M. Chase, May 16, 1919, Wyeth Family Archives)
At the WSFA exhibition of 1919, the picture won the special prize of $50.00 offered by Mrs. T. Coleman du Pont for the "best war painting." "The prize picture...was not the Red Cross picture he had hoped to show, but another very like it in treatment. It was awarded the prize...chiefly because it depicted the embodiment of an abstract idea rather than a particular incident." (Delmarva Sunday Star, Feb. 9, 1919)
"My Red Cross cover of the American soldier helping a wounded poilu and at one side the crucifix, took the war picture prize, and this one I sold for 500.00 at that, so I cannot complain!" (NCW to Sidney M. Chase, May 16, 1919, Wyeth Family Archives)
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. photography from art work; 2. image as it appeared on Red Cross Magazine (Brandywine River Museum library #4631)
Photo Credit:1. Michael I. Price Photography, Inc.; 2. BRM staff