Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Odysseus and Calypso
Alternate Title(s):Calypso and Odysseus
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1929
Dimensions:
48 × 38 in. (121.9 × 96.5 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1773
Research Number: NCW: 1773
InscribedLower right: N. C. Wyeth ©
ProvenanceThe artist to late 1930; Mrs. T. Whitney Blake, Katonah, NY, 1930-?; (?); Reuben Gordon; Samuel Saber, c. 1970, and descended in family to 2008; (New York, NY, Sotheby's, May 22, 2008, lot no. 102); Private Collection; (New York, NY, Christie's, May 22, 2014, lot no. 88);
Exhibition HistoryBoston, MA, 1930, no. 6; Wilmington, DE, 1930(1), no. 22 as "Calypso and Odysseus"
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 213; David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth, A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), p. 315; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1096, p. 513; Diego Cordoba, "N. C. Wyeth," in Illustrators Magazine (London: The Book Place), Autumn 2018, issue 23, illus. p. 32
Curatorial RemarksA photograph of the final drawing for this painting, in charcoal and on canvas, is reproduced in the limited edition (550 copies, signed by both Palmer and Wyeth), bound before page 1. The Brandywine River Museum holds archival photographs of the composition drawn on the canvas prior to the application of color and the Andrew and Betsy Wyeth collection includes two composition studies in pencil (NCW 2178 and NCW 2179). The Wyeth Family Archives includes the copy of the book that N. C. Wyeth read and annotated in preparation for the commission, The Odyssey of Homer, translated by George Herbert Palmer, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1891. The book was found with notes about the commission in NCW's hand, a copy of a letter to Lovell Thompson of Houghton Mifflin dated August 3, 1929, Thompson's reply, dated August 7, 1929, and notes made by NCW for the Illustrator's preface.
In Dec. 1930, Wyeth wrote to Roger L. Scaife that he had sold the entire set of Odyssey paintings to "a Mrs. Blake of New York" who would keep them all together (NCW to RLS, Dec. 22, 1930, Houghton Library, Harvard University). Mrs. T. Whitney Blake's name occurs twice in the artist's address book (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.1174).
In Dec. 1930, Wyeth wrote to Roger L. Scaife that he had sold the entire set of Odyssey paintings to "a Mrs. Blake of New York" who would keep them all together (NCW to RLS, Dec. 22, 1930, Houghton Library, Harvard University). Mrs. T. Whitney Blake's name occurs twice in the artist's address book (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.1174).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. directly from artwork; 2. from archival photograph
Photo Credit:1. Photography courtesy of Sotheby's; 2. Brandywine River Museum library