Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
John Teel, Fisherman
Alternate Title(s):John Teel - Fisherman; Fisherman and His Family; John Teel with His Wife and Granddaughter; Fisherman's Family; A Maine Fisherman's Family
Medium: Tempera on hardboard
Date: 1940
Dimensions:
32 × 40 in. (81.3 × 101.6 cm)
Cawley Family
Accession number: SUPP2000.520
Research Number: NCW: 520
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH; on reverse of panel: Egg Tempera Painting / N. C. WYETH / 1940
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth to 1956 (and with Knoedler Galleries, New York, NY, #54849 / CA7305, 1956-1966); Dr. Thomas A. McGraw, NY & Squirrel Island, ME, 1966-1967; (Parke-Bernet Galleries, March 16, 1967, lot no. 88, illus. as "A Maine Fisherman's Family"; (?); (Rhen Gallery, New York, NY]; private collection, NY, 1967-1990; (Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., NY, 1991); Cawley Family; (with Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, ME, 2012);
Exhibition HistoryManchester, NH, Currier Gallery of Art, "Midsummer Exhibition of Oils and Watercolors by Contemporary American Artists," July 7 - Sept. 29, 1940, no. 13, as "John Teel, Fisherman"; Wilmington, DE, 1940(2), no. 35, as "John Teel--Fisherman"; Philadelphia, PA, 1941(1), no. 30, illus., as "John Teel; Fisherman"; probably West Chester, PA, Chester County Art Association, "Fall Jury Show," (Nov. 9 - ? prob. 1941); possibly Wilmington, DE, 1946, no. 15, as "Fisherman Family"; New York, NY, 1957, no. 32, as "Fisherman's Family"
References
"Beautiful Collection of Oils on Exhibition...," The Manchester Leader and Evening Union (City edition), July 10, 1940, p. 2; Irma Whitney, "Superb Currier Exhibition Shows American Emancipation," Boston Herald, July 28, 1940, p. 31; Edward Alden Jewell, "Philadelphia," New York Times, Feb. 2, 1941, p.X9; possibly "Wyeth Art Most Popular At Fall Exhibition Here," West Chester, PA, Daily News, undated clipping after Nov. 9, 1941, as "John Teel," Brandywine River Museum library; Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950, " unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 79; Betsy James Wyeth, ed.., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), p. 806, as "John Teel with his wife and granddaughter"; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), P.57, p. 826
Curatorial RemarksWyeth depicted fisherman John Teel, his wife, and granddaughter in three paintings done between 1933-34 and 1940. This tempera version is the last in the series. He exhibited it almost continually from July 1940 to March 1941 (in Manchester, NH; Wilmington, DE; and Philadelphia, PA). The subject affirmed Wyeth's sympathies with the working people of the Maine coast and placed him squarely within the regionalist movement. On Feb. 12, 1941, Wyeth wrote to Henriette Wyeth Hurd, "The Philadelphia press, and (Edward Alden) Jewell, were surprisingly kind to my "John Teel - Fisherman" and made statements in its favor which surprised me enormously" (Wyeth Family Archives). Jewell's exact quote, "...there is no getting away from the vividness of "John Teel, Fisherman," by N. C. Wyeth."
Irma Whitney, art critic of the Boston Herald, wrote: "(John Teel--Fisherman) can be taken as the artist's symbol of Americans facing uncertainty with hope, grim determination and a rock ribbed intent to stand fast....this is perhaps the most unforgetable (sic) picture of the exhibition, memorable for its native strength, its clean bold color, its sharp rendering of forms. With its power to evoke philosophical overtones beyond mere incident, Wyeth's work sets a kind of keynote for the best in the exhibition."
Irma Whitney, art critic of the Boston Herald, wrote: "(John Teel--Fisherman) can be taken as the artist's symbol of Americans facing uncertainty with hope, grim determination and a rock ribbed intent to stand fast....this is perhaps the most unforgetable (sic) picture of the exhibition, memorable for its native strength, its clean bold color, its sharp rendering of forms. With its power to evoke philosophical overtones beyond mere incident, Wyeth's work sets a kind of keynote for the best in the exhibition."
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 1999