Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
"'N' the pirates, seein' how it was, puts off in boats"
Alternate Title(s):The Pirates; Chinese Pirates
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1914
Dimensions:
40 1/4 × 32 in. (102.2 × 81.3 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.530
Research Number: NCW: 530
InscribedUpper right: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceThe artist; donated to the auction for the Emergency Relief Fund of French Artists' Families, Nov. 1914; Collection of William Meade Prince, New York; Mrs. Lillian Prince, New York; (Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, NY, May 19, 1965, lot no. 123); H. Richard Dietrich, Philadelphia, PA, to 2007
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1914, no. 79 as "Chinese Pirates"; San Francisco, CA, 1915, no. 58, as "Chinese Pirates"; San Francisco, CA, 1916, no. 6621, as "Chinese Pirates"
References
"Fine Collection of Paintings to be Exhibited by the Wilmington Fine Arts Society," (Wilmington, DE) Every Evening, Nov. 2, 1914, p. 3; James B. Connolly, Tide Rips (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1922), illustration f. p. 208; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 276, 231; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.559, p. 304
Curatorial RemarksScribner's editor Joseph H. Chapin wrote, "Connolly...was delighted with your illustrations. The three of them are now in our Fifth Avenue window and are attracting a good deal of attention although I have n't had any offers." (Joseph H. Chapin to NCW, July 27, 1914, Wyeth Family Archives). In a letter of early August, 1914, Wyeth, "My pictures in the current Scribner's seem to be winning considerable notice and I must answer further inquiries for prices" (NCW to Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth, dated in another hand Aug 7, 1914, Wyeth Family Archives).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Joe Painter, 10/2003