Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Canada Geese in Spring
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1941
Dimensions:
107 1/2 × 156 1/4 in. (273.1 × 396.9 cm)
Collection of MetLife, New York
Accession number: SUPP2000.435
Research Number: NCW: 435
ProvenanceCommissioned from NCW by Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
Exhibition HistoryNew York, NY, 1985, no. 11, color illustration in exhibition brochure
References
N. C. Wyeth, Income Tax Notes for 1941 (unpublished, Brandywine River Museum Library); "The Days of the Pilgrims Live Again in Our Murals," The Home Office (publication of Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.), vol. 23, no. 7 (Dec. 1941), ps. 8-9; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), ps. 169-172; Robert San Souci, N. C. Wyeth's Pilgrims (San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 1991), color illustration (unpaginated); Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), M.66, p. 628-629
Curatorial RemarksThis mural decorated an escalator landing. "The constantly moving throng by these spaces, the lifting approach on the escalator demanded something quite simple and yet with pleasing and complimentary motion. The notion embracing the spirit of flight struck me. I saw it in terms of birds, well known and romantic American birds. The sketches are still in a somewhat realistic state but my plan is to translate them in the final painting into flatter designs like patterns on a screen yet with a definite sense of naturalism" (undated draft of a letter, NCW to Arthur O. Angilly, Brandywine River Museum library).
In 1984, this mural was removed from its original site virtually intact, as per a comparison with an archival photograph taken in Chadds Ford July 26, 1941 (Brandywine River Museum library, #3224). MetLife now occupies new corporate headquarters on Bryant Park, but this mural remains in the Madison Avenue building.
The Brandywine River Museum holds extensive correspondence between the artist and the architect Arthur O. Angilly which touches on all phases of the commission; and a photograph stamped by Edward J. S. Seal "JUL 26 1941" (39309.6).
In 1984, this mural was removed from its original site virtually intact, as per a comparison with an archival photograph taken in Chadds Ford July 26, 1941 (Brandywine River Museum library, #3224). MetLife now occupies new corporate headquarters on Bryant Park, but this mural remains in the Madison Avenue building.
The Brandywine River Museum holds extensive correspondence between the artist and the architect Arthur O. Angilly which touches on all phases of the commission; and a photograph stamped by Edward J. S. Seal "JUL 26 1941" (39309.6).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Photo by: Malcolm Varon, NYC, copyright © 2007