Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Every river that flows is good, and has something worthy to be loved
Alternate Title(s):A Little River
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1919
Dimensions:
34 1/2 × 25 in. (87.6 × 63.5 cm)
Cawley Family
Accession number: SUPP2000.2325
Research Number: NCW: 2325
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined), and again left of center: N. C. WYETH; written on reverse of canvas: (illegible name) Somewhere Safe to Sea / by N. C. Wyeth / MS (or WS) Oct 13 / 5 / Received / 49027; partial label adhered to r. stretcher member: THE ARTIST IS REQUESTED TO FILL OUT THIS FORM AND PASTE IT TO THE BACK OF THE DRAWING / ILLUSTRATION FOR COLLIER'S; label encased in mylar and fastened to stretcher at u.l.: ENTRY CARD / To be attached to the back of the painting /Title (the following in ink in NCW's hand) A Little River / Artist (the following in ink in NCW's hand) N Wyeth / Return to (the following in ink in NCW's hand) Chadds Ford Pa / Insurance valuation (the following in ink in NCW's hand) $500 / Price (the following in ink in NCW's hand) $500 / If not for sale, owner _____ / (with a small white label pasted on this label: 135
ProvenanceThe artist; Paul Jennings Nowland, Wilmington, DE, 1920-1951; Peter and Barbara Nowland Allison, Wilmington, DE, 1951-1999; (Nicholas Wyeth, Cushing, ME, 1999); Cawley Family; (Christie's, NY, NY, Dec. 4, 2008, lot no. 131; did not sell)
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1920, no. 44, as "A Little River"
References
"Annual Exhibit of Fine Arts Society," (Wilmington, DE) Every Evening, April 13, 1920, p. 9; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 221; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.764, p. 390
Curatorial RemarksAn anonymous reviewer wrote that this picture was "striking in composition and harmoniously bold in color treatment of horizontal layers of sunset cloud" (Every Evening, April 13, 1920).
According to the inscriptions on the reverse of this canvas, the river scene probably covers another image painted for "Somewhere Safe to Sea," a story that appeared in Collier's Weekly Magazine of Oct. 12, 1912, with two illustrations by N. C. Wyeth. The canvas has been examined by x-radiography, but thick paint layers (perhaps of lead white) in the central portion of the canvas make a positive identification difficult. Faint shadows in the lower right suggest that the under image is probably NCW 1611.
According to the inscriptions on the reverse of this canvas, the river scene probably covers another image painted for "Somewhere Safe to Sea," a story that appeared in Collier's Weekly Magazine of Oct. 12, 1912, with two illustrations by N. C. Wyeth. The canvas has been examined by x-radiography, but thick paint layers (perhaps of lead white) in the central portion of the canvas make a positive identification difficult. Faint shadows in the lower right suggest that the under image is probably NCW 1611.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 3/1999