Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
In Penobscot Bay
Alternate Title(s):Caldwell's Island; The Doryman; The Lobsterman (The Doryman)
Alternate Title(s):Off Caldwell's Island
Medium: Tempera on hardboard
Date: 1944
Dimensions:
23 1/4 × 47 1/4 in. (59.1 × 120 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Amanda K. Berls, 1975 (1975.322)
Accession number: SUPP2000.331
Research Number: NCW: 331
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined) / 1944; painted on the reverse of the panel in the artist's hand: "IN PENOBSCOT BAY" / by N. C. WYETH 1944 / PAINTED IN EGG TEMPERA / VARNISHED / WITH DAMAR
ProvenanceThe artist to 1945; Thomas Harrison McCann, Long Island, NY, 1945; (?); (Knoedler Galleries, New York, NY, 1965); Amanda K. Berls, 1965 - 1975
Exhibition HistoryBrunswick, ME, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, June 1945 (Commencement Day exhibition); New York, NY, 1945(1), no. 124, illustrated in b/w p. 22, as "In Penobscot Bay"; Brunswick, ME, 1945; Harrisburg, PA, 1965, no. 111, as "In Penobscot Bay"; Rockland, ME, 1966, no. 78, as "In Penobscot Bay," illustration in b/w; New York, NY, Coe Kerr Gallery, "A Tribute to American Realism, The Collection of Amanda K. Berls and Ruth A. Yerion," Jan. 7-31, 1976, illus. as "The Doryman," unpaginated; Chadds Ford, PA, 1976(2); Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum, "The Collection of Amanda K. Berls and Ruth A. Yerion," Jan. 12 - March 9, 1980, catalogue no. 75, as "The Doryman," illustration in b/w p. 64, text p. 36; Chadds Ford, PA, 1982, no. 12 p. 42, text p. 35, illustration in b/w p. 32 as "The Doryman"; Portland, ME, 2000, no numbers, p. 60, as "The Lobsterman (The Doryman)"; Chadds Ford, PA, 2003; Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum of Art, June 22-Sept. 15, 2019 (and Portland, ME, Portland Museum of Art, Oct. 4, 2019-Jan. 12, 2020, and Cincinnati, OH, Taft Museum, Feb. 8-May 3, 2020), "N. C. Wyeth: New Perspectives," illus. p. 196-197
References
Ernest M. Watson, "N. C. Wyeth / Giant on a Hilltop," American Artist, vol. 9, no. 1 (Jan. 1945), illustration in b/w p. 22 as "Caldwells Island"; Henry C. Pitz, "N. C. Wyeth," American Heritage Magazine, vol. XVI, no. 6 (Oct. 1965), illustration in color p. 51; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publisher, 1972), b/w illustration p. 187, also p. 191; Philip C. Beam, Personal Recollections of the Museum of Art and the Department of Art at Bowdoin College (Waterville, ME: Bowdoin College, 1991), ps. 36-37; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), L.225, p. 789, 780; Peter Ker, "The Complicated Legacy of N. C. Wyeth," PMA Magazine (Portland, ME: Portland Museum of Art), Fall 2019, illus. p. 23;
Curatorial RemarksThe doryman was Andrew Wyeth's friend and model Walter Anderson (1923-1987). In September 1944, Wyeth wrote, "My two panels, plus the one of Walt which I have just about completed are unquestionably 'way and beyond anything I've ever done in or of Maine. My "Walt" is probably the best" (NCW to Andrew Wyeth, Sept. 21, 1944, Wyeth Family Archives). This and two other temperas Wyeth did during his 8 week stay in Port Clyde during the late summer of 1944 were done on gessoed panels that Wyeth prepared himself, rather than the manufactured Renaissance Panels he used for commercial work at that time.
The painting's presence in the 1945 Commencement Day exhibition is noted in a letter Wyeth wrote to his daughter Henriette: "A Mr. McCann from Greenport, LI (an alumnus) bought "Walt in the dory" from my small display. I kind of hated to let it go but he paid my price so I couldn't refuse." (NCW to Henriette Wyeth Hurd, dated by BJWyeth June 8, 1945, WFA).
To the first owner, Thomas McCann, Wyeth wrote "It may be of interest for you to know that this painting is done with egg tempera on a wood panel. It is varnished with Damar and should last as well as the works done during the early Renaissance. The picture was done in Port Clyde, Maine, and the island back of the fisherman is Caldwell's, just at the mouth of the Georges River. The doryman is an actual character--and an old friend of mine--a flaxen-haired lobsterman named Walt Anderson" (N. C. Wyeth to Thomas Harrison McCann, Archives of American Art, roll 3482, frames 842-846).
The Brandywine River Museum holds a composition drawing (NCW 2060, 96.1.531) in charcoal and an archival photograph inscribed on the reverse in an unidentified hand: Caldwell's Island / by N. C. WYETH / Egg Tempera / Private Collection. The Andrew and Betsy Wyeth collection includes a study drawn on tracing paper (NCW2246.415) and several studies of the dory (NCW 2202 and NCW 2246.9). "The Painter and the Pirate" by Edgar Allen Beam (Down East, Sept. 2001, ps. 40-45, 74-79) includes a biography of Walter Anderson.
Even during the artist's lifetime the painting had alternate titles. See photograph in Ann Wyeth McCoy Collection (file "Photos of paintings and photos related to NCW paintings") for photo stamped Edward J. S. Seal (photographer) dated Oct 7, 1944 and written in the artist's hand: "Off Caldwell's Island"
The painting's presence in the 1945 Commencement Day exhibition is noted in a letter Wyeth wrote to his daughter Henriette: "A Mr. McCann from Greenport, LI (an alumnus) bought "Walt in the dory" from my small display. I kind of hated to let it go but he paid my price so I couldn't refuse." (NCW to Henriette Wyeth Hurd, dated by BJWyeth June 8, 1945, WFA).
To the first owner, Thomas McCann, Wyeth wrote "It may be of interest for you to know that this painting is done with egg tempera on a wood panel. It is varnished with Damar and should last as well as the works done during the early Renaissance. The picture was done in Port Clyde, Maine, and the island back of the fisherman is Caldwell's, just at the mouth of the Georges River. The doryman is an actual character--and an old friend of mine--a flaxen-haired lobsterman named Walt Anderson" (N. C. Wyeth to Thomas Harrison McCann, Archives of American Art, roll 3482, frames 842-846).
The Brandywine River Museum holds a composition drawing (NCW 2060, 96.1.531) in charcoal and an archival photograph inscribed on the reverse in an unidentified hand: Caldwell's Island / by N. C. WYETH / Egg Tempera / Private Collection. The Andrew and Betsy Wyeth collection includes a study drawn on tracing paper (NCW2246.415) and several studies of the dory (NCW 2202 and NCW 2246.9). "The Painter and the Pirate" by Edgar Allen Beam (Down East, Sept. 2001, ps. 40-45, 74-79) includes a biography of Walter Anderson.
Even during the artist's lifetime the painting had alternate titles. See photograph in Ann Wyeth McCoy Collection (file "Photos of paintings and photos related to NCW paintings") for photo stamped Edward J. S. Seal (photographer) dated Oct 7, 1944 and written in the artist's hand: "Off Caldwell's Island"
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. and 2. Photography directly from artwork
Photo Credit:1. Photograph © 1979 The Metropolitan Museum of Art; 2. Photo courtesy of Joyce Hill Stoner