Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Low Tide
Alternate Title(s):Half Tide; The Tide Pool
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1936
Dimensions:
43 5/8 × 63 1/8 in. (110.8 × 160.3 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.921
Research Number: NCW: 921
InscribedOn reverse, on top stretcher member in black ink: "LOW TIDE" by N. C. WYETH / THE PROPERTY OF A. FELIX du PONT / REHOBOTH, DEL. / 886; secured on top stretcher with nails, an exhibition label from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 15th Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Oil Paintings, 1937, completed by the artist, N. C. WYETH / CHADDS FORD PA / LOW TIDE (note that this painting did not appear in the catalogue of exhibition and was probably rejected by jury); along side stretcher in chalk: M (sic) C Wyeth / (in pencil) 1739 (with various measurements in pencil); adhesive label attached to frame: LOW TIDE (SEA GULLS) / by: N. C. WYETH / (1882-1945) / LOANED BY MRS. JOHN P. BUTLER; incised in frame along bottom member: F. Coll.
ProvenanceMr. and Mrs. A. Felix du Pont, by 1939, and descended in family
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1936, no. 27; New York, NY, 1939, not listed in catalogue but see letters Robert Macbeth to NCW, 11/17/39, 12/9/39, 12/16/39, and 1/9/40 which identifies "Gulls" as belonging to Mr. du Pont; Wilmington, DE, 1946, no. 13; Chadds Ford, PA, 2003
References
N. C. Wyeth, Income Tax Notes for 1939 (unpublished, Brandywine River Museum Library); David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth, A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), p. 346, as "The Tide Pool"; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), L.194, p. 764-765
Curatorial RemarksOver the course of his twenty-five years in Maine, Wyeth showed a great interest in gulls. He did many sketches of them, included them in many of the Maine paintings, and even devoted several paintings to the subject exclusively. This painting was exhibited in Wilmington in the autumn of 1936 when it was probably quite new. The artist sent it to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (132nd Annual, Jan. 24-Feb. 28, 1937) but it was not selected for exhibition, according to Andrew Wyeth's recollection (David Michaelis, 1998, p. 346). It is documented in the artist's income tax notes for 1939, when, even though privately owned by that time, it appeared at Macbeth Gallery in December, 1939. "The gull picture," wrote Robert Macbeth to Wyeth (November 17, 1939), "will be a beauty for the window." The painting retains its original frame by the Wilmington carver Frank Coll (1884-1969).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer