Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
"Hands Up!"
Alternate Title(s):Holdup in the Canyon
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1906
Dimensions:
43 × 30 in. (109.2 × 76.2 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.105
Research Number: NCW: 105
InscribedLower left.: N. C. WYETH / -06-
Provenance(?); William W. Haas, San Francisco, CA, 1942; (?); (Knoedler Galleries, New York); Walter Reed Bimson; (O'Brien Galleries, Phoenix, AZ); Valley National Bank of Arizona, Phoenix, AZ ; by corporate merger to The JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, to 2016; (New York, NY, Christie's, 22 Nov. 2016, no. 26);
Exhibition HistoryTucson, AZ, University of Arizona Museum of Art, "The West and Walter Bimson, Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings and Sculpture Collected by Mr. Walter Reed Bimson," 1971, p. 221 and illus. in color p. 158, as "Holdup in the Canyon"; Chadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 32; Chadds Ford, PA, 1987(2), no. 2 on p. 199, illus. in color p. 90; Chadds Ford, PA, 1990(2), illus. b/w p. 57, cat. no. 21 on p. 81, p. 75;
References
Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), p. 167; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 266, illus. in color p. 36; James H. Serven, "Wagons of the West," Arizona Highways, vol. 52, no. 4 (April 1976), illus. in color p. 43; James H. Duff, The Western World of N. C. Wyeth (Cody, WY: Buffalo Bill Historical Center, 1980), p. 14; Kate F. Jennings, N. C. Wyeth (New York: Brompton Books Corp., Crescent Books, 1992), illus. in color p. 30; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.135, p. 145; Diego Cordoba, "N. C. Wyeth," in Illustrators Magazine (London: The Book Place), Autumn 2018, issue 23, illus. p. 8
Curatorial RemarksIn May, 1906, the artist wrote about this painting, "it's most surely the strongest thing I ever did of its kind. (Stanley) Arthurs said, "It's the most original thing you've done in a long while." That meant a great deal to me from him. I have to finish the picture by Thursday so you see I have to hustle. I started Monday morning to lay it in (a huge canvas) and finished the "lay in" by 12 o'clock" (NCW to Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth, "Well--this has been another loud week..." and dated in another hand May 23, 1906, Wyeth Family Archives).
The first recorded owner of the painting, William W. Haas, was not a member of the prominent San Francisco Haas-Lilienthal family.
The first recorded owner of the painting, William W. Haas, was not a member of the prominent San Francisco Haas-Lilienthal family.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Peter Ralston, www.pralston.com