Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
For a moment he seemed to be looking right at me. This was my first sight of Bowie Bushyager
Alternate Title(s):The James Brothers in Missouri; The James Gang
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1921
Dimensions:
25 × 40 in. (63.5 × 101.6 cm)
Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Accession number: SUPP2000.319
Research Number: NCW: 319
InscribedLower left: BERT STIMSON / FROM N. C. W. (initials underlined) ARTIST'S SIGNATURE ALSO PRESENT IN L.L.????
ProvenanceThe artist; gift to Bert Stimson, Needham, MA; Mrs. Bert Stimson to 1956; (Vose Galleries, Boston, MA, 1956); (Knoedler Galleries, New York, NY, 1956); Gilcrease Foundation, Tulsa, OK, to 1963
References
Paul A. Rossi and David C. Hunt, The Art of the Old West from the Collection of the Gilcrease Institute (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971), illus. b/w ps. 258-259; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), ps. 242, 262; William A. Settle, Jr., Jesse James Was His Name (Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1977), cover illus. in color; A. R. Reese and S. J. Styles, The American West, 1840-1895 (Harlow, Essex, England: Longman Group UR Ltd., 1986), illus. b/w p. 94; Alan Axelrod, The Art of the Golden West, An Illustrated History (New York: Abbeville Press, 1990), illus. in color p. 381; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.884, p. 430; Diego Cordoba, "N. C. Wyeth," in Illustrators Magazine (London: The Book Place), Autumn 2018, issue 23, illus. p. 25
Curatorial RemarksBert Stimson was the carpenter Wyeth hired to construct his Needham studio, used when the family lived in Massachusetts between 1921 and 1923.
In a letter to Andrew Wyeth dated Feb. 13, 1956 (Brandywine River Museum), the dealer Robert C. Vose, Jr., referred to this painting as "the Jesse James picture." In a subsequent letter (to E. Coe Kerr dated Feb. 15, 1956) Vose referred to "The James Brothers in Missouri." Although there is no indication that the artist considered this a picture of Jesse James and James is not a character in Vandemark's Folly, the association has continued.
In a letter to Andrew Wyeth dated Feb. 13, 1956 (Brandywine River Museum), the dealer Robert C. Vose, Jr., referred to this painting as "the Jesse James picture." In a subsequent letter (to E. Coe Kerr dated Feb. 15, 1956) Vose referred to "The James Brothers in Missouri." Although there is no indication that the artist considered this a picture of Jesse James and James is not a character in Vandemark's Folly, the association has continued.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Digital photography directly from painting