Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The horse fell with his rider to the bottom of the cliff.
Alternate Title(s):Fall of the Blind Horse; Horse and Rider Fell Off the Cliff; The Blind Rider and Blind Horse; The horse, not being guided by his rider...fell...to the bottom of the cliff;
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1927
Dimensions:
37 1/2 × 27 in. (95.3 × 68.6 cm)
American Illustrators Gallery, New York, NY
Accession number: SUPP2000.392
Research Number: NCW: 392
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined); label formerly adhered to reverse and now secured to backing board: "Michael Strogoff Illustration by Wyeth / the horse fell with his rider to the bottom / of the cliff / page 312 / $600.00 / (following) Scribner's copyright / Scribner's Magazine; on reverse of canvas: VIII / 32 (in red, circled)
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth (with Knoedler Galleires, New York, NY, 1956- at least Feb. 1966, no. CA4510); (?); (Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY, 1973); Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Fowler, Lookout Mountain, TN, 1973 - 1985; Collection of H. Lauren Lewis, 1985-1998; (Frank E. Fowler, 1998); (New York, NY, American Illustrators Gallery]; [New York, NY, Christie's, May 2016, lot no.
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1946, no. 44, as "Fall of the Blind Horse"; Washington, DC, 1946, no. 27, as "Fall of the Blind Horse"; New York, NY, 1957, no. 96, as "The Blind Rider and Blind Horse"; Lubbock, TX, 1959, no. 30; Greenville, SC, 1974, no. 84, illus. in color p. 19, as "Horse and Rider Fell Off the Cliff"; Albany, GA, 1981, no. 13, illus. in color on cover, as "The horse, not being guided by his rider...fell...to the bottom of the cliff"; Memphis, TN, 1983, p. 95 cat. no. 32, illus. in b/w p. 44; Greenville, DE, Somerville Manning Gallery, "N. C. Wyeth: Painter and Illustrator," June 14-Sept. 14, 2019;
References
Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the N. C. Wyeth Studio, 1950," unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 7; "Stouthearted Heroes of a Beloved Painter," Life, vol. 43, no. 24 (Dec. 9, 1957), color illustration p. 95; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 222; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1051, p. 497
Curatorial RemarksThe Brandywine River Museum holds the edition of Michael Strogoff that the artist read in preparation for this commission (NCWS.95.150).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Courtesy of the Archive of the American Illustrators Gallery, New York, NY