Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
"It was with some difficulty that he found the way to his own house, which he approached with silent awe, expecting every moment to hear the shrill voice of Dame Van Winkle."
Alternate Title(s):"It was with some difficulty that he found his way to his own house, which he approached with silent awe, expecting every moment to hear the shrill voice of Dame Van Winkle"; Rip Van Winkle Returning; Rip Returns Home; The Return of Rip; The Return of Rip Van Winkle
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1921
Dimensions:
40 × 30 in. (101.6 × 76.2 cm)
Collection of Linda L. Bean
Accession number: SUPP2000.783
Research Number: NCW: 783
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceThe artist; (?); (Mannados Book Shop, New York, NY, to 1954); (Knoedler Galleries, New York, NY, 1954 to 1958); Mr. W. J. Hopwood, Winnipeg, Canada; descended in family; (?); (J. N. Bartfield Galleries, New York, NY, 1985); Collection of Robert and Carolyn Wohlsen, to 1999; (Schoonover Studios Ltd., Wilmington, DE, 1999); Private collection; (Frank E. Fowler, 1999); Cawley Family Collection, 12/1999-2016; [Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, Maine, 5/2016);
Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, PA, 1921, as "The Return of Rip"; Philadelphia, PA, 1924, as "The Return of Rip Van Winkle"; New York, NY, 1957, no. 92; Chadds Ford, PA, 1985; Lancaster, PA, Steinman College Center, Franklin and Marshall College, "A Collector's Choice: Selections from a Private Collection of Mixed Media," Oct. 3-4, 1985; Chadds Ford, PA, 1985; Chadds Ford, PA, 1987(1), checklist p. 27; Lititz, PA, 1991, color illustration on exhibition invitation; Roanoke, VA, 1991; Japan (3 venues), American Illustrators Gallery (organizer), "The Great American Illustrators," 1993, color illustration p. 38, no. 17 p. 125 as "Rip Returns Home"; Lititz, PA, 1995; Norfolk, VA, Chrysler Museum of Art, "Myth, Magic, and Mystery: One Hundred Years of American Children's Book Illustration," June 2 - Sept. 8, 1996 (also Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and Delaware Art Museum), cover illustration in color, color illustration no. 136 p. 130, p. 227; Chicago, IL, 1997, no. 36; Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum of Art, June 22-Sept. 15, 2019 (and Portland, ME, Portland Museum of Art, Oct. 4, 2019-Jan. 12, 2020, and Cincinnati, OH, Taft Museum, Feb. 8-May 3, 2020), "N. C. Wyeth: New Perspectives," illus. p. 164
References
"Illustrations by Wyeth," (Philadelphia, PA) Public Ledger, Jan. 20. 1924; Howard B. Wilder, This Is America's Story (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1948), b/w illustration p. 322; "The Greatest Illustrator," Time Magazine, vol. LXX, no. 21 (Nov. 18, 1957), color illustration p. 96, as "Rip Van Winkle Returning"; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 207, color illustration p. 112 as "It was with some difficulty that he found his way to his own house, which he approached with silent awe, expecting every moment to hear the shrill voice of Dame Van Winkle"; David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth, A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), color illustration after p. 308; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.854, p. 420; Peter Ker, "The Complicated Legacy of N. C. Wyeth," PMA Magazine (Portland, ME: Portland Museum of Art), Fall 2019, illus. p. 22;
Curatorial RemarksThis painting was singled out in an exhibition review as "especially dramatic...Rip Van Winkle stands in the doorway of his former home, a ragged, unkempt dreamer, silhouetted against the sunshine of a warm morning. The light here, the shade there, gives the effect of realism--almost too much realism." (Public Ledger, Jan. 20, 1924)
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 3/2000