Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Spirit of Childhood and Liberty
Alternate Title(s):America's Greatest Wealth is in Her Healthy Children; Boy Waving American Flag;
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1919 / 1920
Dimensions:
34 1/8 × 24 1/4 in. (86.7 × 61.6 cm)
Needham Public Schools, Needham, MA
Accession number: SUPP2000.159
Research Number: NCW: 159
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH; lower right: © GINN COMPANY; on reverse: In Memory of John Goodwin Schirmer, 1914-1922
ProvenanceThe artist; gift to Dr. and Mrs. J. Walter Schirmer, as a gift to the Needham Public Schools, in memory of John Goodwin Schirmer (1914-1922)
Exhibition HistoryNeedham, MA, 1967, no. 7; Needham, MA, 1968, no. 3, as "Boy Waving American Flag"; Chadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 50; Needham, MA, 1982, no numbers; Rockland, ME, 2000, color illustration, fig. 37
References
John C. Davis, "Annual Report of the School Committee for the Year 1922," (Needham, MA), p. 16, as "The Spirit of Childhood and Liberty"; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 197; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.744, p. 380
Curatorial RemarksIt would seem that this painting was originally intended for "A History of Our Country" by William J. Long, published by Ginn and Company in 1923. In fact, according to a letter from E. K. Robinson of Ginn to NCW dated Dec. 5, 1919 (Wyeth Family Archives), Long himself suggested alterations to the subject: "My only suggestion is that the Boy Scout element be tempered to the American Boy element. The flag, and boyhood, and the mighty natural background of the West, --that should be a dandy picture!"
In October, 1922, 8 year-old John G. Shirmer was killed in an automobile accident in Needham, Massachusetts. His father, Dr. J. Walter Schirmer, visited Wyeth's Needham studio to select a painting to give to the boy's school as a memorial. The gift to the Stephen Palmer School is acknowledged in The Annual Report of the School Committee for 1922. In 1930 Dr. Schirmer, in his capacity as secretary to the Needham Senior High School Building committee, announced that N. C. Wyeth would contribute four large murals to the new school. That project was never realized.
In October, 1922, 8 year-old John G. Shirmer was killed in an automobile accident in Needham, Massachusetts. His father, Dr. J. Walter Schirmer, visited Wyeth's Needham studio to select a painting to give to the boy's school as a memorial. The gift to the Stephen Palmer School is acknowledged in The Annual Report of the School Committee for 1922. In 1930 Dr. Schirmer, in his capacity as secretary to the Needham Senior High School Building committee, announced that N. C. Wyeth would contribute four large murals to the new school. That project was never realized.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 6/2001