Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Cornfield in Pennsylvania
Alternate Title(s):Corn Harvest; Corn Husker; Corn Huskers; Give Us This Day; Pennsylvania Barn Near Chadds Ford (Corn Harvest)
Medium: Tempera and possibly some oil paint on hardboard (prob. Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1942
Dimensions:
34 × 36 1/4 in. (86.4 × 92.1 cm)
Wilmington Trust Company
© Brown & Bigelow, Inc., St. Paul, Minnesota
Accession number: SUPP2000.204
Research Number: NCW: 204
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined); on reverse, written with a paint brush: egg tempera on gesso ground, Cornfield in Pennsylvania by N. C. Wyeth, 1942; adhered to reverse, remnants of large beige label with gold/brown border (probably label of F. Weber Co.)
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth
Exhibition HistoryWashington, DC, 1943, no. 212, as "Cornfield in Pennsylvania"; poss. Wilmington, DE, 1943, no. 17, as "The Corn Husker"; Wilmington, DE, 1946, no. 17, as "Corn Harvest"; Washington, DC, 1946, no. 4, as "Corn Harvest"; Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum, "Brandywine Valley," June 1 - Sept. 16, 1973; Bridgeport, CT, 1974, no. NC 9; Chadds Ford, PA, 1982, number 29, p. 50
References
Henry M. Watson, "N. C. Wyeth / Giant on a Hilltop," American Artist, vol. 9, no. 1 (Jan. 1945), illus. b/w p. 22, as "Corn Harvest"; ___, "N;. C. Wyeth's Work, Aims Inspiration for First Brandywine Arts Festival," (Wilmington, DE) Evening Journal, Sept. 13, 1961, p. 4, illus. in b/w, as "Corn Harvest"; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), color illus. p 184, as "Corn Harvest"; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), L.221, p. 775
Curatorial RemarksThis may be the painting referred to in an undated letter the artist wrote to Andrew Wyeth ("I plan to devote...," and (mis?)dated in another hand June 1, 1941, Wyeth Family Archives): "The Barn and Corn Harvest has occupied me intensively every daylight hour since you left eight days ago. How much I would profit from a few moments of discussion about it with you! But your words "Drive it further! Push it to the limit of vitality in every part!", resounds in my ears and I shall do my best to carry your admonitions out. The color is hot and blazing, and the spirit of ripened fruits and red(illegible) earth is alive - so far!" According to handwritten notes for his 1941 income taxes, this painting was ordered by Progressive Farmer but then not sold (Brandywine River Museum library). Records at Brown & Bigelow, an advertising company in St. Paul that produced calendars for business distribution, indicate that the painting was received there in 1944. The reproduction, for calendar year 1945, was titled "Give Us This Day;" Brown & Bigelow purchased "rights only" and the painting was returned to the artist in November, 1944 (Clair V. Fry to NCW, Nov. 20, 1944, Wyeth Family Archives).
Most likely, the artist used a lantern slide (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.1825.188) of an oil on canvas painting (NCW 1174) of similar composition to transfer the design to the hardboard panel. Despite the inscription on the reverse of the panel, Andrew Wyeth remembered that his father began this painting in tempera but completed in oil. Andrew Wyeth also recalled that the motif was not a particular barn, but a composite of the features of many local barns.
Most likely, the artist used a lantern slide (Brandywine River Museum, NCWS.95.1825.188) of an oil on canvas painting (NCW 1174) of similar composition to transfer the design to the hardboard panel. Despite the inscription on the reverse of the panel, Andrew Wyeth remembered that his father began this painting in tempera but completed in oil. Andrew Wyeth also recalled that the motif was not a particular barn, but a composite of the features of many local barns.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. Photography directly from art work; 2. archival photograph of N. C. Wyeth and Andrew Wyeth with "Cornfield in Pennsylvania" on easel
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 2001; 2. Edward J. S. Seal (Brandywine River Museum photo file, P97)