Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Aroostook Potato Harvest
Alternate Title(s):In the Aroostook County Potato Fields; The Maine Potato Growers
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: ca. 1937
Dimensions:
32 3/4 × 22 5/8 in. (83.2 × 57.5 cm)
Deena Sara Gerson
Accession number: SUPP2000.1335
Research Number: NCW: 1335
InscribedLower left: TO MR. & MRS. COURTLAND (sic) SCHOONOVER (name underlined) / from / N. C. WYETH (possibly followed by illegible date); adhered to reverse of panel, Renaissance Panel label no. 605, dated 11-26-(19)37; painted on the reverse of panel in NCW's hand: IN THE AROOSTOOK COUNTY POTATOE (sic) FIELDS / (MT. KTAADN (sic) IN THE DISTANCE) / PLEASE DO NOT VARNISH THIS PANEL / N.C.W.
ProvenanceThe artist; to Cortlandt Schoonover as a wedding gift (June, 1940) through at least 1953; (?); Henry Halle, Wilmington, DE, by 1956, through 1979;
Exhibition HistoryPortland, ME, 1938
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 216; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1231, p. 559
Curatorial RemarksOn September 21, 1937, Wyeth wrote to Kenneth Roberts, "I spent some time up in "Aroostick" (sic) County between Houlton and Portage and was much impressed. The country from Silver Ridge toward and including Mt. Katahdin will figure in my composition of this subject" (Kenneth Roberts Papers, Courtesy of Dartmouth College Library). The Brandywine River Museum holds a lantern slide of the composition drawing for this image (NCWS.95.1825.127); and a copy of a ca. 1950s photograph showing the painting on exhibition (and for sale) in the lobby of the Hotel du Pont, Wilmington, DE.
When the painting was examined and photographed in 2006, it retained its original frame, a plain, off-white molding.
When the painting was examined and photographed in 2006, it retained its original frame, a plain, off-white molding.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 12/2005