Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Black Spruce Ledge ( " Time and Tide . . ." )
Alternate Title(s):Lobsterman; Lobster Fisherman (Brown & Bigelow); Blubber Island (Brown & Bigelow)
Medium: Oil and tempera on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1941
Dimensions:
42 × 52 in. (106.7 × 132.1 cm)
Collection of Linda L. Bean
© Brown & Bigelow, Inc., St. Paul, Minnesota
Accession number: SUPP2000.1426
Research Number: NCW: 1426
InscribedLower right, scratched into ground: N. C. WYETH (underlined); on reverse, Renaissance Panel label, numbered 1043, dated 7/24/41; painted on reverse of panel: PAINTED IN EGG TEMPERA ON GESSO GROUND (with a caret between egg and tempera and the words AND OIL above) / N. C. WYETH; adhered to panel, label: #5181
ProvenanceThe artist through at least late 1944; Brown & Bigelow, St. Paul, MN, 1945; Private collection and descended in family; (J. N. Bartfield Galleries, New York, NY, 1998)
Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, PA, 1941(3), as "Black Spruce Ledge"; Wilmington, DE, 1941, no. 24, as "Black Spruce Ledge"; Portland, ME, 2000, cover illustration in color and illustration in color, fig. 26, p. 41
References
Ernest W. Watson, "Giant on a Hilltop," American Artist, vol. 9, no. 1 (Jan. 1945), as "Lobsterman," illus. b/w p. 22; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), illustration in b/w p. 183 (dated incorrectly); Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), L.219, p. 774
Curatorial RemarksThis painting is almost an exact copy of NCW 608, a 1939 tempera on panel that Wyeth sold in 1940 to the Forbes Lithograph Mfg. Co. in Boston. In September 1941, the artist wrote to his son, "I hope to start my new interpretation of the Black Spruce Ledge motive tomorrow (NCW to Andrew Wyeth, dated "Tuesday" in NCW's hand and "Sept. 1941" in another, Wyeth Family Archives). Later Wyeth wrote, "Henriette has just been in the studio and has encouraged me much with her unbridled enthusiasm over my tempera....It is nowhere near done but it has richness and power, and I believe I have escaped clever lyricism this time (NCW to AW, Sept. 24, 1941, WFA). Wyeth must have been pleased with this version; it is mentioned in his late 1944 interview with Ernest Watson. NCW 2204 and 2058 are drawings that relate to both paintings.
Brown & Bigelow paid $1,000 for "calendar rights" (Celia Mendelsohn of American Artists to NCW, April 6, 1945, Wyeth Family Archives); the image appeared on a Brown & Bigelow calendar for 1947 titled "Time and Tide." The painting was also reproduced in "Talio-Crome" as an art print (image size, 8 3/8 x 10 3/4 in, Brandywine River Museum library). A biographical note included with the print indicates that the artist was still alive at the time of this reproduction.
Brown & Bigelow paid $1,000 for "calendar rights" (Celia Mendelsohn of American Artists to NCW, April 6, 1945, Wyeth Family Archives); the image appeared on a Brown & Bigelow calendar for 1947 titled "Time and Tide." The painting was also reproduced in "Talio-Crome" as an art print (image size, 8 3/8 x 10 3/4 in, Brandywine River Museum library). A biographical note included with the print indicates that the artist was still alive at the time of this reproduction.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:photography directly from painting
Photo Credit:Courtesy of Linda L. Bean