Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Oregon Trail, endpaper illustration
Alternate Title(s):The Water-Hole; The Water Hole
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: ca. 1925
Dimensions:
28 × 36 in. (71.1 × 91.4 cm)
Courtesy of Wells Fargo
Accession number: SUPP2000.332
Research Number: NCW: 332
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth to 1953; (Brandywine Galleries, Albuquerque, NM, 1953); Lewis W. Douglas, for Southern Arizona Bank and Trust, Phoenix, AZ, 1953 - 1975; (by corporate merger) First National Bank of Arizona; (by corporate merger); First Interstate Bank of Arizona
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1930(1), no. 45, as "The Water Hole"; Tucson, AZ, First National Bank of Arizona, "Tucson Bicentennial Commeration," Aug. 20- Sept. 19, 1975; Sun City, AZ, Sun Cities Art Museum, "N. C. Wyeth, Remington and Russell," Jan. 10 - Feb. 3, 1988;
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 214, b/w illustration p. 114; Kate F. Jennings, N. C. Wyeth (New York, NY: Brompton Books Corp., Crescent Books, 1992), color illustration p. 40; David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), b/w illustration p. 188; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1004, p. 481
Curatorial RemarksIn a publisher's preface dated July 8, 1925 and printed in the Wyeth / Remington edition, the artist is quoted as saying, "This title has been much on my mind for several years....'The Oregon Trail' has always been deep in my blood. I feel very much stirred to interpret my dreams into pictures." Wyeth was keenly aware that his ancestor Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth (1802-1856) had led several expeditions to the American northwest in the 1830s.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Craig Smith, 6/2003