Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Lobsterman (Hauling in a Light Fog)
Alternate Title(s):Lobsterman -- Light Fog
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: ca. 1933
Dimensions:
59 × 51 1/2 in. (149.9 × 130.8 cm)
Private collection, New York, NY
Accession number: SUPP2000.416
Research Number: NCW: 416
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth (and Knoedler Galleries, New York, NY, #S-2849); Depositors Corporation, Augusta, ME, 1971; (Judy Goffman Fine Art, 1981)
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1933, no. 47, as "Lobsterman - Light Fog"; Portland, ME, 1938; New York, NY, 1957, no. 105; Lewiston, ME, 1973; Rockland, ME, 1982, p. 9; Portland, ME, 2000, no numbers, p. 59
References
Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950," unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 15; "Depositors Starts Art Collection with N. C. Wyeth Paintings," in News and Views from Depositors Trust Company (Augusta, ME, Oct. 1971), ps. 2-3, illus. p. 3; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 216, illustration in b/w p. 183; Carol Billman, "N. C. Wyeth," American History Illustrated, vol. XX, no. 10 (Feb. 1986), color illus. p. 34; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1193, p. 543, 544
Curatorial RemarksAlthough this painting was reproduced as an illustration for Trending Into Maine, its exhibition record and correspondence between the artist and Houghton Mifflin Co. indicate that Wyeth had the painting on hand as the illustrative program was being formulated (see NCW to A. R. McIntyre, March 23, 1936, and NCW to Kenneth Roberts, Oct. 4, 1937, both Kenneth Roberts papers, Dartmouth College Library). The original painting was almost square in format; in order to make it appropriate for the vertical orientation needed for the book illustration, Wyeth applied the canvas to a hardboard panel and added additional canvas at the top ("The remounted and extended Lobsterman is still not dry enough for me to work on safely...," NCW to Roger L. Scaife, Dec. 20, 1937, Courtesy of Douglas Allen). In the 1950 studio inventory, a note documents the hardboard backing which subsequently was removed.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Dennis Griggs, 2000