The wild, spectacular race for dinner.

Artist:

N.C. Wyeth

(American, 1882 - 1945)

The wild, spectacular race for dinner.

Alternate Title(s):Racing for Dinner; Colorado, Away They Go
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1905
Dimensions:
38 1/8 × 26 in. (96.8 × 66 cm)
Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming Gift of John M. Schiff, 44.83
Accession number: SUPP2000.379
Research Number: NCW: 379
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH / COTTONWOOD CAMP / 1904 ; label adhered to verso: COE KERR GALLERY / 49 EAST 82nd STREET / NEW YORK, N. Y. 10028
ProvenanceThe artist; [?]; John M. Schiff, New York, NY, to 1983
Exhibition HistoryCody, WY, Whitney Gallery, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Special Exhibition Opening Season, June 1 - Oct. 1, 1969, "no. 89-94 Series of six paintings of Scenes from a Cow Camp," n.p.; Cody, WY, 1980, p. 12, 57, illustration plate 17, as "Colorado, Away They Go"; Marietta, GA, 1998, no numbers; Atlanta, GA, High Museum of Art, "Art of the American Frontier from the Buffalo Bill Center of the West," Nov. 3, 2013-April 13, 2014, Plate no. 154, p. 94;
References "Wilmington Artists in the March Magazines," undated (but March 1906 by context) and unattributed article from Wilmington, DE, newspaper; Les Beitz, "N. C. Wyeth, Painter...of Men in Action," True West, vol. 15, no. 2 (Dec. 1967), p. 20; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 274, 285, 279, color illustration p. 37; Sarah E. Boehme, "N. C. Wyeth, From the Hashknife to the Palette Knife," Points West (Cody, WY: Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Fall, 2002), p. 14; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.113, p. 135
Curatorial RemarksThere is no doubt that this picture was conceived and painted in 1905 in the artist's Wilmington studio. The inscription below the signature references Wyeth's inspiration, his Oct. 1904 trip to Colorado.
As early as May, 1905 (NCW to Carolyn Bockius, May 8, 1905, Wyeth Family Archives) Joseph Chapin suggested the possibility of publishing prints of the "Round-up" pictures. This was one of two images selected for "Cow-Punchers" that Scribner's reproduced as individual prints. According to an advertisement in the December 1906 magazine, prints sold for 75 cents each, and Wyeth felt he earned a "good royalty," which was 10% of sales (Scribner's Archive, Princeton University Library). The reproductions were printed by the Electro-Light Engraving Company of New York. The image was also made into a "Happy Hours" puzzle, an example of which is held by the Brandywine River Museum (see NCWS.95.4702).
"Wilmington Artists in the March Magazines," an undated (but March 1906 by context) and unattributed article from a Wilmington, DE, newspaper, states that "The full-page illustrations in color are in his best style and their originals have been sold to a New York collector."
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Digital photography of painting