Artist:
John W. McCoy
(American, 1910 - 1989)
Bird in Flight
Medium: Mixed media
Date: ca. 1950s
Dimensions:
30 × 20 in. (76.2 × 50.8 cm)
Accession number: 2003.17
Copyright: © John W. McCoy Estate
Label Copy:
John W. McCoy received his Bachelors of Fine Arts from Cornell University and studied at the American School in Fontainebleau, France, as well as at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. McCoy credited N.C. Wyeth with being his most inspirational and influential teacher. Starting in 1933, McCoy and Andrew Wyeth took lessons together from the elder Wyeth until the two students found their preferences in subject matter began differing too much for joint sessions to be productive. McCoy became an official member of the Wyeth family in 1935 when he married N.C. Wyeth’s daughter Ann.
After studying with N.C. Wyeth for a number of years, John McCoy espoused a philosophy that natural things are simply a small part of the larger universe. He studied nature extensively, and his work Bird in Flight captures this. A mixed media work, Bird in Flight depicts a seagull either about to fly or in mid-flight. The chaotic array of feathers is a dramatic juxtaposition to the neutral sand-colored background.
John W. McCoy received his Bachelors of Fine Arts from Cornell University and studied at the American School in Fontainebleau, France, as well as at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. McCoy credited N.C. Wyeth with being his most inspirational and influential teacher. Starting in 1933, McCoy and Andrew Wyeth took lessons together from the elder Wyeth until the two students found their preferences in subject matter began differing too much for joint sessions to be productive. McCoy became an official member of the Wyeth family in 1935 when he married N.C. Wyeth’s daughter Ann.
After studying with N.C. Wyeth for a number of years, John McCoy espoused a philosophy that natural things are simply a small part of the larger universe. He studied nature extensively, and his work Bird in Flight captures this. A mixed media work, Bird in Flight depicts a seagull either about to fly or in mid-flight. The chaotic array of feathers is a dramatic juxtaposition to the neutral sand-colored background.