Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Fence Builders
Alternate Title(s):The Fence Builders of Chadds Ford
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1915
Dimensions:
37 1/4 × 49 3/16 in. (94.6 × 124.9 cm)
Private collection, PA
Accession number: SUPP2000.24
Research Number: NCW: 24
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined) / 1915; on reverse, on stretcher, partial label: J. G. HADER(torn) / ART SH(torn) / 209 West 9th(torn) / Wilmington; partial label: W.S.B.(torn) / Packer(torn) / 424 West 5(torn); on frame, label of Hardcastle's, Wilmington, Del.
ProvenanceThe artist to 1945; Wyeth family to Wilmington, DE, 1946 exhibition; Private collection
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1915, no. 32; New York, NY, ca. 1920, no. 12; Wilmington, DE, 1946, no. 21; Harrisburg, PA, 1965, no. 115; Rockland, ME, 1966, no. 46; Wilmington, DE, 1968, no. 5; Chadds Ford, PA, 1971, no. 69, illus. in color p. 55; Chadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 132; Greenville, SC, 1974, no. 3, illus. b/w p. 16; Chadds Ford, PA, 1982, no. 15, illus. in color p. 22, see also p. 23; Chadds Ford, PA, 1992; Chadds Ford, PA, 1997, no nos.; 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. 143
References
(Wilmington, DE) Morning News, "Private View of Local Art Show," Nov. 2, 1915, p. 12; (Wilmington, DE) Every Evening, Nov. 2, 1915, p. 9; Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), p. 489, 490, 492, 507 (as "The Fence Builders of Chadds Ford"); Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 179, 182, illustration in color p. 176; Kate F. Jennings, N. C. Wyeth (New York: Brompton Books Corp., Crescent Books, 1992), illustration in color, p. 94-95; Alexander Nemerov, "N. C. Wyeth's Theater of Illustration," American Art Magazine, vol. 6, no. 2 (Spring 1992), illustration in color fig. 13 p. 50; David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth, A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998, p. 241-242, 244, illustration in color after p. 244 and endpaper illustration; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), L.98, p. 728, 729
Curatorial RemarksWyeth wrote to his mother in March, 1915, "Would give a great deal to have you all see my large canvas "The Fence Builders"--with all of the old valley behind them. Am working like desperation to make good on this particular work, which thank God is just for myself and not a publisher's (Wyeth Family Archives). Later he admitted, "(I am) going directly to Nature for my inspiration and details. In every case I am putting things down from knowledge of fact and not of fancy" (NCW to Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth, dated in another hand March 31, 1915, Wyeth Family Archives). To his friend Sidney Chase, Wyeth wrote, "I have spent a solid month on a large canvas...and have made some decided advances, some of which I really feel are entitled to be called "painting" " (NCW to Sidney M. Chase, dated in another hand March 31, 1915, Wyeth Family Archives).
In 1972, the Brandywine Valley Association issued a plate with this image on it; a legend on the reverse stated that the view was looking north from the artists's studio and that the men in the painting were, left to right: Harry I. Arment, Herbert E. Jenkins, and James H. Jenkins.
In 1972, the Brandywine Valley Association issued a plate with this image on it; a legend on the reverse stated that the view was looking north from the artists's studio and that the men in the painting were, left to right: Harry I. Arment, Herbert E. Jenkins, and James H. Jenkins.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:1. Robert Walch, 11/2002; 2. archival photograph showing original framing (Brandywine River Museum library, # 3257c)