Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Arizona Nights, untitled headpiece illustration
Alternate Title(s):We had to "shoot the rapids"
Date: 1906
Dimensions:
dimensions unavailable
Known by reproduction only
Accession number: SUPP2000.1850
Research Number: NCW: 1850
InscribedAt center left edge: N. C. WYETH (underlined) / -06-
References
Stewart Edward White, Arizona Nights (New York: McClure Company, 1907), detail illustration f. p. 70 as "We had to 'shoot the rapids'"; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 266; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.131, p. 142
Curatorial RemarksAccording to letters, Wyeth received this installment of the story in late November, 1905, and was able to write to his mother on Jan. 4, 1906, "I have nearly completed the illustrations (3) for their S. E. White story. They are by far the best illustrations I have ever turned out" (NCW to HZW, Jan. 4, 1906, dated by postmark on evelope, Wyeth Family Archives).
The horizontal composition of this painting was probably dictated by the magazine layout. When the painting was reproduced in color for the book, the image was cropped to a vertical format consistent with the page size and rest of the illustrations for the story.
The horizontal composition of this painting was probably dictated by the magazine layout. When the painting was reproduced in color for the book, the image was cropped to a vertical format consistent with the page size and rest of the illustrations for the story.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency from tear sheet, Brandywine River Museum Library
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 5/2005