Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Spearman
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1906
Dimensions:
38 × 24 in. (96.5 × 61 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.893
Research Number: NCW: 893
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined) / 06
Provenance(Cincinnati, OH, art gallery); Collection of Clayton Brukner; Private collection, Battle Creek, MI, 1978; Private collection to 2012; (Christie's, New York, NY, Nov. 28, 2012, lot. no. 25)
References
Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), p. 155; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 268, color illustration p. 60; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.153, p. 152
Curatorial RemarksWyeth worked on the paintings in the Solitude series in March and April, 1906. In an undated letter from that period, Wyeth wrote to his mother, "To-morrow I will finish another of the Indian series which Mr. Pyle likes better than any. An Indian boy spearing a trout." (NCW to Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth, "Thursday night and I haven't written...", Wyeth Family Archives).
Outing printed a number of different sized reproductions of the five "Solitude" paintings. In the Dec. 1907 issue (unpaginated, Outing Magazine Advertiser), the publishers advertised reproductions 12 x 16 inches, mounted on heavy boards 17 x 22 inches overall. A page from an advertising section torn from an unidentified magazine offered a boxed set of reproductions, 14 x 23 inches, mounted to 17 x 27 inches (Library, Delaware Art Museum, incorrectly dated August 1904).
Outing printed a number of different sized reproductions of the five "Solitude" paintings. In the Dec. 1907 issue (unpaginated, Outing Magazine Advertiser), the publishers advertised reproductions 12 x 16 inches, mounted on heavy boards 17 x 22 inches overall. A page from an advertising section torn from an unidentified magazine offered a boxed set of reproductions, 14 x 23 inches, mounted to 17 x 27 inches (Library, Delaware Art Museum, incorrectly dated August 1904).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:photography from printed source (Brandywine River Museum, tear sheet)
Photo Credit:web: BRM staff; hardcover: Rick Echelmeyer