Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Pike County Ballads, untitled headpiece
Alternate Title(s):And sarched for 'em far and near; Three men with a torch in the snow
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1912
Dimensions:
15 × 20 in. (38.1 × 50.8 cm)
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. David J. Butters
Accession number: SUPP2000.1200
Research Number: NCW: 1200
InscribedMonogrammed at lower left edge: W
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth (with Knoedler Galleries, New York, NY, 9/56-at least 11/65, # 54831); Carolyn Wyeth; (Frank E. Fowler, 1977); Private collection, Palm Beach, FL; (Frank E. Fowler, 1999); (American Illustrators Gallery, New York, NY); Cawley Family Collection; (Christie's, New York, NY, Nov. 29, 2001, lot no. 75)
Exhibition HistoryNew York, NY, 1957, no. 78, as "Three Men with a Torch in the Snow"; Lubbock, TX, 1959, no. 22, as "Three Men with a Torch in the Snow"; Rockland, ME, 1999, illustration in color p. 3; Chadds Ford, PA, 2005
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 206 as "And sarched for 'em far and near"; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.388, p. 245
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds a photograph of this design rendered in ink on paper. Since it was unusual for the artist to do preliminary studies for paintings in pen and ink, it is possible that original publication plans included ink drawings for the head- and tailpiece subjects. A change in the program must have occurred by March 1912 when Wyeth wrote that he had 8 large and 30 small "pictures" to do for the Pike County commission, not 8 large pictures and 30 pen and inks, a very different outlay in time and effort (NCW to Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth, "There's a postal in the post office..." and dated in another hand March 13, 1912, Wyeth Family Archives).
The museum also holds an unmarked copy of "Poems by John Hay," which includes "The Pike County Ballads," published by Houghton Mifflin (1899) and found in the artist's studio (NCWS.95.723).
The museum also holds an unmarked copy of "Poems by John Hay," which includes "The Pike County Ballads," published by Houghton Mifflin (1899) and found in the artist's studio (NCWS.95.723).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Photography directly from artwork
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 10/1999