The Magic Pool

Artist:

N.C. Wyeth

(American, 1882 - 1945)

The Magic Pool

Alternate Title(s):The Pool
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1906
Dimensions:
26 × 38 1/4 in. (66 × 97.2 cm)
Collection of Linda L. Bean
Accession number: SUPP2000.587
Research Number: NCW: 587
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH / --06
Provenance(?); The Gamble Collection, Cincinnati, OH, to 1928; gift to the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati, 1928- 1992; (Midwestern Galleries, Cincinnati, OH, 1992); (?); Collection of John Edward Dell, to 1995
Exhibition HistoryGreenville, DE, 1995; Portland, ME, 2000, illustration in color, fig. 13 p. 24
References Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 268, illustration in color p. 57; John Edward Dell, ed., Visions of Adventure, N. C. Wyeth and the Brandywine Artists (New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2000), detail in color p. 17 and illustration in color p. 67-68; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.152, p. 152
Curatorial RemarksOuting printed a number of different sized reproductions of the five "Solitude" paintings. In the Dec. 1907 issue (unpaginated, Outing Magazine Advertiser), the publishers advertised reproductions 12 x 16 inches, mounted on heavy boards 17 x 22 inches overall. A page from an advertising section torn from an unidentified magazine offered a boxed set of reproductions, 14 x 23 inches, mounted to 17 x 27 inches (Library, Delaware Art Museum, incorrectly dated August 1904).
This was one of the most popular images of Wyeth's early career. In addition to the above mentioned reproductions, the image appeared on glass lamp shades and as a calendar illustration published by an unidentified publishing company. It relates to a charcoal drawing done when Wyeth was a Howard Pyle student, NCW 2223.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Courtesy of Linda L. Bean