Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Portrait of a Young Artist
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1936
Dimensions:
32 1/8 × 40 1/8 in. (81.6 × 101.9 cm)
Collection of the Farnsworth Art Museum
Museum purchase, 1963
Accession number: SUPP2000.456
Research Number: NCW: 456
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined); across reverse of top frame member: Designed By. Mrs Hurd. Carved By. F Coll.
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth, to 1963
Exhibition HistoryNorthfield, MA, Mount Hermon School, "Wyeth Exhibit," May 8 - 23, 1965, no. 2; Rockland, ME, 1982, p. 9; Cleveland, OH, Cleveland Museum of Art (and additional venues at Columbus Museum of Art and Corcoran Museum of Art), "Reckoning with Winslow Homer: His Late Paintings and Their Influence, " Sept. 19--Nov. 18, 1990, see ps. 146-147, illus. b/w fig. 112; Rockland, ME, 2001; Chadds Ford, PA, 2003; Kalamazoo, MI, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, "The Wyeths, America's Artists," Jan. 15-April 17, 2011; Rockland, ME, Farnsworth Art Museum, "N. C. Wyeth: Painter," May 21-Dec. 31, 2016;
References
Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the N. C. Wyeth Studio, 1950", p. 89 (unpublished, Brandywine River Museum); Christopher Hyde, "N. C. Wyeth's Maine Legacy," Down East Magazine (Nov. 1982), illus. in color p. 34-35; Arnold Skolnick, ed., Paintings of Maine (New York: Clarkson Potter, Inc., 1991], illus. in color on half title page; Stephen May, "N. C. Wyeth's Midlife Masterpieces," Down East Magazine, vol. 42, no. 4 (Nov. 1995); Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), L.192, p. 764; James D. Balestrieri, "Lesson in Form," American Fine Art Magazine, #28 (July/August 2016), illust. in color, p. 93;
Curatorial RemarksThe young artist is Andrew Wyeth, who was 19 when his father painted him at an easel perched on the rocks. With the spray of the crashing wave, the diagonal line of the rocks, and a narrative line introduced by the figure, this is one of N. C. Wyeth's most "Homeresque" seascapes, a tribute to one of Wyeth's avowed masters. According to Andrew Wyeth, he was painting "Heavy Sea, Cannibal Shore" (Oil no. 45, AW catalogue raisonne) at the time N. C. Wyeth painted him. "Andy and I have been spending a good deal of time on the Cannibal Shore lately, both day and at night" (NCW to Ann Wyeth McCoy, Sept. 3, 1936, Wyeth Family Archives).
This painting retains its original frame. The incised legend on the back of the frame indicates the carver Frank Coll (1884-1969) followed a design conceived by Henriette Wyeth Hurd.
This painting retains its original frame. The incised legend on the back of the frame indicates the carver Frank Coll (1884-1969) followed a design conceived by Henriette Wyeth Hurd.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Melville D. McLean