Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
"I've sold them wheelers!"
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1907
Dimensions:
38 × 25 in. (96.5 × 63.5 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1417
Research Number: NCW: 1417
InscribedLower right: N C WYETH (underlined) / 07
Provenance(?); Frederick Smart; descended in family, to 1997; (Sotheby's, New York, NY, lot no. 119, Dec. 3, 1997)
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 266, illustration in b/w p. 54; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.179, p. 163
Curatorial RemarksThe artist's correspondence makes it clear that he began work on these pictures in early January, 1907, but by the end of the month he wrote, "The pictures ... are a great disappointment to me, secondly the story is so confounded strong that it makes my efforts appear terribly weak (NCW to Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth, "This Friday ends a week...," and dated in another hand Jan. 25, 1907, Wyeth Family Archives). He delivered them to McClure's on Feb. 1 (NCW to HZW, "I am now on the way to NY..." and dated in another hand Feb. 1, 1907, Wyeth Family Archives), and there is no later explanation of why the story and pictures weren't published until May, 1908.
In May 1908, the artist wrote to his mother, "A woman in L. I. is negotiating with me at present for the "drunken Cassidy" picture in McClure's. She says it "particularly appeals" to her." Unfortunately, subsequent letters do not reveal whether Wyeth sold it then or not.
In May 1908, the artist wrote to his mother, "A woman in L. I. is negotiating with me at present for the "drunken Cassidy" picture in McClure's. She says it "particularly appeals" to her." Unfortunately, subsequent letters do not reveal whether Wyeth sold it then or not.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Courtesy of Sotheby's, 1997