Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Brace-Game, untitled headpiece illustration
Alternate Title(s):Several Bad Jams Relieved the Monotony; John Orde, Lumberjack
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1907
Dimensions:
26 7/8 × 41 1/2 in. (68.3 × 105.4 cm)
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Fowler
Accession number: SUPP2000.1356
Research Number: NCW: 1356
InscribedLower center: N. C. WYETH (underlined) / 07; printers marks in border upper left; written on reverse of canvas in black: The Brace Game / N. Y. City / 188 (underlined) / #1133 713; across all in white chalk: 4883 / 7; written on left stretcher member, illegible line (possibly instructions to printer)
ProvenancePrivate collection, Brooklyn, NY, ca. late 1920s; (?); (Sotheby's, New York, NY, May 27, 1999, lot no. 184); MBNA America, Wilmington, DE, 1999;
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 272; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.184, p. 165
Curatorial RemarksFirst published in a horizontal orientation as a vignette-style headpiece in the Saturday Evening Post, the image was cropped around the main figure to a vertical orientation for publication in the book version of White's stories.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. Transparency directly from painting; 2. digital scan of illustration f.p. 52, The Riverman (New York: McClure Co., 1908)
Photo Credit:1. Courtesy of Sotheby's, 3/1999; 2. BRM staff