Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Star Spangled Banner
Alternate Title(s):By the Dawn's Early Light
Medium: Oil on hardboard (Renaissance Panel)
Date: 1941
Dimensions:
33 × 28 in. (83.8 × 71.1 cm)
Private collection
Used with permission of New York Life Insurance Company
Accession number: SUPP2000.1288
Research Number: NCW: 1288
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
Provenance(Newman Galleries, Philadelphia, PA, ca. 1967-1970); (?); Meinhard Galleries, Houston, TX, 1976; (?);
Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, PA, Philadelphia Museum of Art (Art Directors' Club of Philadelphia), "Art in Advertising," March 1(?) - March 29, 1942
References
N. C. Wyeth, Income tax notes for 1941 (Brandywine River Museum, unpublished); C. H. Bonte, "Celebrities Contribute to Art in Advertising," Philadelphia Inquirer, March 1, 1942, SO, p. 9 with b/w illustration; American History Illustrated, vol. II, no. 8 (Dec. 1967), cover in color; Frederic Ray, O! Say Can You See (Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1970), illustration in color p. 75; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 285, 291; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), C.148, p. 686-687
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds calendar images in two sizes (8 1/4 x 7", # 4443; and 14 3/8 x 12 3/16", # 4463). The archives of New York Life Insurance Company holds calendar reproductions in the same sizes, but each is marked "Copr. 1941 F. A. Schneider." F. A. Schneider, who held the copyright to this and several other of Wyeth's works (NCW 1145), had an office at 413 Arch Street, Philadelphia (Library of Congress copyright office to James P. Simpson, Sept. 10, 1946, BRM library).
A charcoal composition drawing for the image (NCW 741) is held privately and the Brandywine River Museum holds a lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.171) of the drawing that was used in the transfer of the image from paper to panel. Wyeth had submitted a similar design to the Coca-Cola Company in the mid 1930s (NCW 2478) which was not accepted.
A charcoal composition drawing for the image (NCW 741) is held privately and the Brandywine River Museum holds a lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.171) of the drawing that was used in the transfer of the image from paper to panel. Wyeth had submitted a similar design to the Coca-Cola Company in the mid 1930s (NCW 2478) which was not accepted.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:photography directly from artwork
Photo Credit:Photographer: Jud Haggard; Courtesy of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts