Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Have a "Coke" = How are things goin'? . . .
Alternate Title(s):Soldiers on Pier Drinking Coca-Cola; Newfoundland
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1944
Dimensions:
28 × 32 in. (71.1 × 81.3 cm)
The Coca-Cola Company Archives
Used by permission, Courtesy of The Coca-Cola Company Archives
Accession number: SUPP2000.1075
Research Number: NCW: 1075
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
Exhibition HistoryNew York, NY, 1945(2), no. 29, illustration in b/w; Albany, GA, 1981, no. 5, illustration in b/w (unpaginated), as "Soldiers on a Pier Drinking Coca-Cola"
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 294; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), C.178, p. 697
Curatorial RemarksThe order for this painting may have been inspired by Wyeth's Dark Harbor Fishermen. Paul Smith of D'Arcy Advertising Co. wrote to the artist, "As for the Coca-Cola picture--my only caution is not to dilute its power by "sweetening" it up. In other words, I want you to paint this just as though you were doing this for exhibition and not make any concessions to what is popularly referred to as the "commercial" taste. Your other boatfull of fish painting was perfect, I thought" (Paul Smith to NCW, Nov. 29, 1943, Wyeth Family Archives). Dark Harbor Fishermen had been photographed recently, and the artist may have sent a print to Smith. The composition drawing is extant (NCW 1074) and the Brandywine River Museum holds a lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.209) of the drawing that was used in the transfer of the design from paper to canvas.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Courtesy of The Coca-Cola Company Archives, 7/2004