Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Chads' Ford Barbershop sign
Medium: Oil on wood
Date: by 1926
Dimensions:
60 1/2 × 84 in. (153.7 × 213.4 cm)
Collection of the Christian C. Sanderson Museum, Chadds Ford, PA
Accession number: SUPP2000.1171
Research Number: NCW: 1171
References
Karen S. Furst, Around Chadds Ford (Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2005), p. 42; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), O.9, p. 835
Curatorial RemarksThe sign, painted for George Scuse, a Chadds Ford barber who also sat for NCW (see NCW 2416), reads CHADS' FORD / BARBER / SHOP / THIS IS THE PLACE WHERE / WASHINGTON & LAFAYETTE / HAD A VERY CLOSE SHAVE. The sign is believed to have been in place by 1926. The Sanderson Museum holds a circa 1930 photograph of the sign hanging above the shop; at that time the bottom line of the text (since obscured) said "Pete Zimmerman," referring to the barber who replaced Scuse. The sign was salvaged by Chadds Ford historian Christian C. Sanderson.
Andrew N. Wyeth, son of Nathaniel Wyeth, believes that his father made the wooden portion of the sign. (ANW to CBP, telephone conversation, 10/10/2017
Andrew N. Wyeth, son of Nathaniel Wyeth, believes that his father made the wooden portion of the sign. (ANW to CBP, telephone conversation, 10/10/2017
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:directly from object
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 1/2007