Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The locating engineer--the first man on the ground who often risks his life to approximate possible routes.
Alternate Title(s):The Contracting Engineer; The Locating Engineer
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1908
Dimensions:
37 × 24 in. (94 × 61 cm)
Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, Brownsville, Texas
Accession number: SUPP2000.110
Research Number: NCW: 110
InscribedUpper right.: N. C. WYETH (underlined) / 1908; lower left: THE LOCATING ENGINEER / FRIEND TOM / Sincerely / N. C. Wyeth (underlined)
ProvenanceThe artist; gift to Thomas Baldwin, Chadds Ford, PA; (?) ; Clara Lilly Ely, by 1966
Exhibition HistoryNew York, NY, 1908(2); Chadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 39; Chadds Ford, PA, 1975; Cody, WY, 1980, illus. b/w plate 29 on page 48, ps. 15, 56; Tyler, TX, Tyler Museum of Art, "The Wyeths Across Texas," no. 2, p. 44, illus. p. 45;
References
"Wilmington's Colony of Artists, No. 12, N. C. Wyeth," pub. in the (Wilmington, DE) Star, Jan. 23, 1910, as "The Contracting Engineer"; "Children's Artist, A Painter and Muralist of World Renown, N. C. Wyeth Likes Best to Paint for Youth, Hopes and Dreams," (Wilmington, DE) Delmarva Star, Aug. 19, 1934, p. 12, illus. on easel in photograph of artist ; Betsy James Wyeth, ed. , The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), ps. 241-242; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 274; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.257, p. 188
Curatorial RemarksIn March of 1908, the artist wrote to his mother, "Scribner's seems to know what I like. They sent me an engineering story which calls for a picture of a surveyor clinging to the sheer wall of a canyon." Three days later he wrote, "Thank heaven! the picture I mention, the "Locating Engineer" has come very easily, and I think is quite a striking illustration, comparative to my other work of course..." (Betsy James Wyeth, ed. , The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), ps. 241, 242). A critic writing in an unidentified New York newspaper singled out this painting in the Salmagundi Club exhibition, calling it "a remarkably strong bit of colored work, (rising) far above what is generally understood as illustration" (clipping, Brandywine River Museum curatorial files).
According to relatives, Thomas Baldwin, a Chadds Ford resident, moved to Brownsville, TX, in 1929, to grow grapefruit. The venture was not successful and Baldwin returned to Pennsylvania, most likely after selling the painting in Brownsville.
According to relatives, Thomas Baldwin, a Chadds Ford resident, moved to Brownsville, TX, in 1929, to grow grapefruit. The venture was not successful and Baldwin returned to Pennsylvania, most likely after selling the painting in Brownsville.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:John Scheiber Photography, 7/2005