Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Mystery Tree
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1908
Dimensions:
35 1/2 × 25 1/2 in. (90.2 × 64.8 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.99
Research Number: NCW: 99
Provenance(Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, March 19, 1969, lot no. 292); (J. N. Bartfield Galleries, New York, NY, catalogue number 100, 1969, item no. 52]; Private collection, Washington, DC, ca. 1969; Private collection; (J. N. Bartfield Galleries, New York, NY, 2004)
Exhibition HistoryChadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 25
References
Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), ps. 258-259; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), ps. 200, 313, 314, illus. b/w p. 55; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.217, p. 177
Curatorial RemarksThis was one of four paintings originally commissioned by McClure's Magazine to illustrate Edgar Beecher Bronson's text "The Last Great Sun Dance." Wyeth worked on the series in July and August of 1908 and The Mystery Tree is probably the first of the four to be completed, the one for which Stimson Wyeth posed (Betsy James Wyeth, ed., p. 258-259)
On Sept. 5, 1908, the artist wrote to his mother, "I delivered the Sun Dance pictures which, judging from the praise tendered me at McClures, I should feel in one sense pleased with the result. They were apparently liked very much which was corroborated by their decision to publish them in the Xmas McClures." (Betsy James Wyeth, ed., p. 269). The four paintings and the article were not published as planned, most likely due to financial problems the magazine experienced in the fall of 1908 (NCW to HZW, Oct. 2, 1908, Wyeth Family Archives). Cowboy Life on the Western Plains is a compilation of Bronson's accounts of the west, illustrated with images by many artists.
On Sept. 5, 1908, the artist wrote to his mother, "I delivered the Sun Dance pictures which, judging from the praise tendered me at McClures, I should feel in one sense pleased with the result. They were apparently liked very much which was corroborated by their decision to publish them in the Xmas McClures." (Betsy James Wyeth, ed., p. 269). The four paintings and the article were not published as planned, most likely due to financial problems the magazine experienced in the fall of 1908 (NCW to HZW, Oct. 2, 1908, Wyeth Family Archives). Cowboy Life on the Western Plains is a compilation of Bronson's accounts of the west, illustrated with images by many artists.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Chris Gimmeson, © BBHC, Cody, WY