Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Moose Hunt
Alternate Title(s):The Moose Call; Moose Hunters
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: ca. 1919
Dimensions:
36 1/8 × 40 1/8 in. (91.8 × 101.9 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.854
Research Number: NCW: 854
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
Provenance(James Graham & Sons, 1966); Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Larry Sheerin; (Christies, New York, NY, Dec. 2, 1988, lot no. 167, as "The Moose Call"); (American Illustrators Gallery, New York, NY); (J. N. Bartfield Galleries, NY, by Jan. 1994); Cawley Family Collection, Wilmington, DE; (Christie's, New York, NY, lot no. 52, Nov. 29, 2001)
Exhibition HistoryGreenville, SC, 1974, no. 101, as "Moose Hunters" (note size discrepancy)
References
Antiques Magazine, vol. LXXXIX, no. 5 (May 1966), illustration in b/w; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 292; "Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture of the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries," Christies, New York, NY, lot no. 167, Dec. 2, 1988, illustration in b/w p. 149; "The Fine Arts Trader," Jan. 1994 (Bartfield Galleries advertisement), illustration in b/w, back page; Gray's Sporting Journal, vol. 22, no. 5 (Sept. 1997), cover illustration; "Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture," Christie's, New York, NY, lot no. 52, Nov. 29, 2001, illustration in color p. 89; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), C.42, p. 651
Curatorial RemarksThe painting is dated by the rifle in the picture, identified as a Winchester Model 51, "The Imperial," a prototype of 1919 and not publicly released (Jennifer Houze, Cody Firearms Museum to CBP, Dec. 12, 1996, Brandywine River Museum). Strauss and Strauss give the calendar year as 1919 (although the hanger illustrated no longer has the calendar pad) which, if correct, would date the painting a year earlier.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from artwork
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 10/1999