Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Pike County Ballads, cover illustration
Alternate Title(s):The Carpetbaggers
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1912
Dimensions:
49 × 38 in. (124.5 × 96.5 cm)
Diamond M Fine Art Collection, Museum of Texas Tech University
Accession number: SUPP2000.328
Research Number: NCW: 328
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceThe artist; (?); Roy M. Mason, Batavia, NY; (Rosequist Galleries, Tuscon, AZ, 1958); Diamond M Foundation, TX, 1958 - 1993
Exhibition HistoryLubbock, TX, 1959, no. 25, as "Pike County Ballads"; Harrisburg, PA, 1965, no. 32, as "Carpetbaggers"; Midland, TX, Museum of the Southwest, "The Wyeth Family," Jan. 8 - Feb. 6, 1973; Houston, TX, 1980; Chicago, IL, 1997, no. 2; Lubbock, TX, 1999
References
Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), p. 410; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 206, illustration in color p. 131; cover illustration, American History Illustrated, vol. VII, no. 9 (Jan. 1973), as "The Carpetbaggers"; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.378, p. 242
Curatorial RemarksWriting to his mother on March 13, 1912, the artist allowed "I also have on my easel the cover design for The Pike County Ballads..., which stands for the most virile thing of the sort I ever did--printing and all really have considerable quality and power" (Besty James Wyeth, ed., p. 410). The heavy impasto around the figures and especially at the top indicates that Wyeth painted out the lettering after reproduction.
The Brandywine River Museum holds an unmarked copy of "Poems by John Hay," which includes "The Pike County Ballads," published by Houghton Mifflin (1899) and found in the artist's studio (NCWS.95.723).
The Brandywine River Museum holds an unmarked copy of "Poems by John Hay," which includes "The Pike County Ballads," published by Houghton Mifflin (1899) and found in the artist's studio (NCWS.95.723).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Courtesy of Museum of Texas Tech University