Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Seeker
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1933
Dimensions:
70 × 62 in. (177.8 × 157.5 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.321
Research Number: NCW: 321
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined) / 1933
ProvenanceHercules Powder Company, Inc. (Hercules Incorporated), Wilmington, DE, 1933-2002; (Christie's, Beverly Hills, CA, lot no. 102, Nov. 20, 2002)
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1968, no. 22; Chadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 40
References
"The Seeker," The Hercules Mixer, vol. 16, no. 1 (Jan. 1934), p. 15 (calendar illustrated in b/w); Printer's Ink Monthly, Jan. 1934, cover illustration in color; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 153; Bob Strauss, Beverly Strauss, American Sporting Advertising, Vol. I, Posters and Calendars (Jefferson, ME: Circus Promotions Corp., 1987), HE-21; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), C.87, p. 666
Curatorial RemarksThe image was accompanied in the Hercules Mixer with copy associating the hunt for precious metals with the search for new industrial products and methods. "The research worker and the producer of useful materials, seekers in almost infinite fields, also strive for more than monetary gain...."
The Brandywine River Museum holds an archival photograph of this image drawn on the canvas preparatory to the addition of color. Note that the painting itself is almost square; the image was cropped on each side to fit the vertical format used on the Hercules calendars. The calendar image measures 17 x 11 3/4" (Brandywine River Museum library 4319) and the poster image measures 16 7/8 x 11 5/8" (Brandywine River Museum library 4454 a & b)
The Brandywine River Museum holds an archival photograph of this image drawn on the canvas preparatory to the addition of color. Note that the painting itself is almost square; the image was cropped on each side to fit the vertical format used on the Hercules calendars. The calendar image measures 17 x 11 3/4" (Brandywine River Museum library 4319) and the poster image measures 16 7/8 x 11 5/8" (Brandywine River Museum library 4454 a & b)
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting; 2: as reproduced in Davis Dyer and David B. Sicilia, Labors of a Modern Hercules, Evolution of a Chemical Company. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1990
Photo Credit:Courtesy of Christie's, 9/2002