Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Puritan Corn Husker
Alternate Title(s):Cornfield
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1945
Dimensions:
108 × 173 1/8 in. (274.3 × 439.7 cm)
Collection of MetLife, New York
Accession number: SUPP2000.437
Research Number: NCW: 437
InscribedLower left within image: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceCommissioned from NCW by Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
Exhibition HistoryNew York, NY, 1985, no. 6, as "Cornfield"
References
Robert San Souci, N. C. Wyeth's Pilgrims (San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 1991), color illustration unpaginated; David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth, A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), p. 413; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), M.76, p. 632, 633
Curatorial RemarksThe authority for the title comes from the artist's correspondence of August, 1945 (NCW to Carolyn Bockius Wyeth, Aug. 22, 1945, Wyeth Family Archives). The Brandywine River Museum holds a composition drawing for this image (NCW 2064, 96.1.527) showing the architectural features originally incorporated into the design, and extensive correspondence between the artist and the architect Arthur O. Angilly which touches on all phases of the commission.
A comparison between the composition drawing and the present appearance of the mural indicates the extent of painted surface added during the conservation campaign of the mid 1980s when the mural was removed from its original site.
In the mid-1980s, the MetLife murals were removed from the walls of their original location at One Madison Avenue, New York, and placed on strainers. MetLife now occupies new corporate headquarters on Bryant Park, but this mural remains in the Madison Avenue building.
A comparison between the composition drawing and the present appearance of the mural indicates the extent of painted surface added during the conservation campaign of the mid 1980s when the mural was removed from its original site.
In the mid-1980s, the MetLife murals were removed from the walls of their original location at One Madison Avenue, New York, and placed on strainers. MetLife now occupies new corporate headquarters on Bryant Park, but this mural remains in the Madison Avenue building.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Photo by: Malcolm Varon, NYC, copyright © 2007