Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Paragon Apples
Alternate Title(s):Apples on Bough;The Apple Branch
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1934 / 1938
Dimensions:
55 × 44 in. (139.7 × 111.8 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1324
Research Number: NCW: 1324
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined) / 193 _ (last digit heavily abraded); tacked to top stretcher bar, card in artist's hand: PARAGON APPLES (underlined) / by / N. C. WYETH; on central stretcher bar: CA4640; incised on right frame member: MAURICE--FINCKEN--FECIT-- ALDEN (sic)--PA
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; (Knoedler Galleries, New York, NY, stock # CA4640); Private collection and descended in family to 2006
Exhibition HistoryWashington, DC, 1946, no. 10 as "The Apple Branch"
References
Richard Layton , "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950," unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 77, as "Still Life (Apples hung on door)"; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), S.28, p. 794
Curatorial RemarksAndrew Wyeth remembered that in order to paint this picture, his father hung the apple bough on the double wooden doors between the mural and main studios. According to notes in Layton's 1950 studio inventory, the painting hung in the artist's main studio; it retains its original frame by maker Maurice Fincken whose name appears in Wyeth's address book, "107 Wayne Ave., Aldan, Pa."
In March, 1935, Wyeth exhibited at the Philadelphia Art Alliance "Winesaps," a painting whose appearance is undocumented. Andrew Wyeth could neither confirm or deny that the two titles belonged to the same painting (Andrew Wyeth to C. B. Podmaniczky, 4/2006); if so, the painting would date to ca. 1934. The authority for the present title rests with a card in the artist's hand tacked to the top stretcher bar.
In March, 1935, Wyeth exhibited at the Philadelphia Art Alliance "Winesaps," a painting whose appearance is undocumented. Andrew Wyeth could neither confirm or deny that the two titles belonged to the same painting (Andrew Wyeth to C. B. Podmaniczky, 4/2006); if so, the painting would date to ca. 1934. The authority for the present title rests with a card in the artist's hand tacked to the top stretcher bar.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. transparency directly from painting; 2. Carving on reverse of frame. 3. Label in artist's hand affixed to stretcher
Photo Credit:1. Jim Schneck; 2. and 3. Courtesy of Joyce Hill Stoner