Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Wagner and Liszt
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1914
Dimensions:
dimensions unavailable
Courtesy of the Steinway Art Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.569
Research Number: NCW: 569
ProvenanceSteinway & Sons, New York, NY
References
James Huneker, The Steinway Collection of Paintings by American Artists Together with Prose Portraits of the Composers (New York: Steinway & Sons), 1919, illus. in color; frontispiece illustration, Osbourne McConathy, ed., Music of Many Lands and Peoples (New York: Silver Burdett and Company, 1932); Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), p. 457; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 295, illus. in b/w p. 145; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), C.26, p. 645
Curatorial RemarksIn a letter to his mother, the artist described a Philadelphia concert he attended in preparation for this painting, and particularly his conversation with a "french musical professor" who had known Wagner and Liszt personally. (Betsy James Wyeth, ed., p. 457). A photograph sent from Steinway & Sons of a similar piano was found among Wyeth's studio papers (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.850). A book in the Wyeth House library, "Arthur Rackham's Book of Pictures," (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.4284) is inscribed: To Carol / from Convers / completion of the Liszt:Wagner / picture / May 20:1914."
A letter to his mother documents the artist's involvement in the framing of this picture: "I had the pleasure of choosing a handsomely carved frame made by a Mr. Slater, the best in the country, for which the purchasers of the painting paid $150.00. This added so greatly to the picture; its tone and beauty made the canvas quite worthy." (NCW to HZW, dated in another hand May 22, 1914, Wyeth Family Archives). The reference is probably to the framemaker Edwin C. Slater, 1884-?, who signed his frames "E. C. Slater" (Courtesy Jeff Hayman, Eli Wilner & Co., New York).
For an advertising campaign, Steinway distributed small versions of the image printed on canvas (approx. size 7 3/4 x 6 1/2 inches).
A letter to his mother documents the artist's involvement in the framing of this picture: "I had the pleasure of choosing a handsomely carved frame made by a Mr. Slater, the best in the country, for which the purchasers of the painting paid $150.00. This added so greatly to the picture; its tone and beauty made the canvas quite worthy." (NCW to HZW, dated in another hand May 22, 1914, Wyeth Family Archives). The reference is probably to the framemaker Edwin C. Slater, 1884-?, who signed his frames "E. C. Slater" (Courtesy Jeff Hayman, Eli Wilner & Co., New York).
For an advertising campaign, Steinway distributed small versions of the image printed on canvas (approx. size 7 3/4 x 6 1/2 inches).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Digital photography directly from painting
Photo Credit:Peter Carey, 7/6/2006