Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Doryman (Evening)
Alternate Title(s):The Doryman; The Doryman - Port Clyde, Maine
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1933
Dimensions:
42 × 38 in. (106.7 × 96.5 cm)
Collection of the National Museum of American Illustration, Newport, RI
Accession number: SUPP2000.293
Research Number: NCW: 293
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH / PORT CLYDE N.C. (faintly, as if start of another signature) / MAINE
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth to at least Sept. 1950; (Knoedler Galleries, New York, by 1957, # S-2848); Mr. Norman B. Woolworth, New York, NY, ca. 1958, and then Mrs. Norman B. Woolworth to 1994; (Sarah Mleczko Fine Art, NY); Masco Corporation; (Sotheby's, NY, Dec. 3, 1998, lot no. 138)
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1933, no. 15, as "Doryman - Evening"; Philadelphia, PA, 1935(2); Portland, ME, 1938; New York, NY, 1957, no. 104, as "The Doryman"; Kennebunkport, ME, Arts Festival, Aug. 1967; Waterville, ME, Colby College Art Museum, "Spectrum / Horizons," Aug. 11 - Sept. 25, 1971, no. 52; Rockland, ME, 1982, p. 9
References
"Children's Artist, A Painter and Muralist of World Renown, N. C. Wyeth Likes Best To Paint for Youth, Hopes and Dreams," (Wilmington, DE) Delmarva Star, August 19, 1934, p. 12; C. H. Bonte, "That Gifted Wyeth Family Exhibiting at the Alliance," Philadelphia Inquirer, March 31, 1935, p. SO 9; Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950," unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 15; Marge Cook, "Artist N. C. Wyeth," Down East Magazine, vol. X, no. 7 (April 1964), illus. in color between ps.34-35; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), color illus. p. 185; David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth, A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), color illus. after p. 340; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), L.175, p. 756
Curatorial RemarksThe work is dated by a letter written to Nathaniel and Caroline Wyeth (Sept. 13, 1933, Wyeth Family Archives) which indicates that Wyeth was painting "large canvases" in Maine at that time; and by its exhibition record. It was remarked upon by an anonymous author who visited Wyeth's studio in August, 1934 ("Children's Artist..." above).
In a letter to Roger Scaife of Little, Brown and Company (Oct. 10, 1935, Dartmouth College Library), Wyeth made it clear that he hoped he would be able to use "seven or eight" paintings he had already completed by that date in the general illustrative scheme he was proposing for Trending Into Maine. Later he wrote, "The Doryman I found I could actually cut down and by repainting could improve the preliminary picture considerably. I think you will agree with me that it is much better all'round" (NCW to Roger L. Scaife, Dec. 20, 1937, Courtesy of Douglas Allen). No known archival material documents the painting's original appearance.
In a letter to Roger Scaife of Little, Brown and Company (Oct. 10, 1935, Dartmouth College Library), Wyeth made it clear that he hoped he would be able to use "seven or eight" paintings he had already completed by that date in the general illustrative scheme he was proposing for Trending Into Maine. Later he wrote, "The Doryman I found I could actually cut down and by repainting could improve the preliminary picture considerably. I think you will agree with me that it is much better all'round" (NCW to Roger L. Scaife, Dec. 20, 1937, Courtesy of Douglas Allen). No known archival material documents the painting's original appearance.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Courtesy of Sotheby's, 1998