Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
untitled (proposed image for Cream of Wheat)
Medium: Charcoal and gouache (?) on paper
Date: ca. 1909
Accession number: SUPP2000.2448
Research Number: NCW: 2448
InscribedIn lower left: ROUGH SKETCH / N. C. WYETH
Curatorial RemarksAssociation of the design with the Cream of Wheat Company is based on lettering in the sign above the doorway.
There are comments in two letters which refer to work for the Cream of Wheat Company but which cannot be related to specific images. In a letter dated August 7, 1908, Wyeth writes, "The Cream of Wheat Co. splurged my letter carrier (see NCW 109) on all the large sized magazines this month, and it has taken so well that I just got another order from him for another....It's a 500.00 job so I shall do my best to think one up." A second letter to his mother dated in someone else's hand April 23, 1909, contains a broad remark: "I also have thought of a good Cream of Wheat ad and have sent the sketch on to be O.K.'d."
The present composition is unrelated to any known painting.;This drawing is likely by N. C. Wyeth, but the decision to include it in the CR should not be made until more information has been gathered. From the drawing, a transcription of all inscriptions and accurate dimensions are needed. David Stivers should be contacted to see if there are any Cream of Wheat archives that might shed light on the piece; and the provenance should be investigated to see if the piece can be traced to anyone associated with Cream of Wheat, such as the Mapes family.
There are comments in two letters which refer to work for the Cream of Wheat Company but which cannot be related to specific images. In a letter dated August 7, 1908, Wyeth writes, "The Cream of Wheat Co. splurged my letter carrier (see NCW 109) on all the large sized magazines this month, and it has taken so well that I just got another order from him for another....It's a 500.00 job so I shall do my best to think one up." A second letter to his mother dated in someone else's hand April 23, 1909, contains a broad remark: "I also have thought of a good Cream of Wheat ad and have sent the sketch on to be O.K.'d."
The present composition is unrelated to any known painting.;This drawing is likely by N. C. Wyeth, but the decision to include it in the CR should not be made until more information has been gathered. From the drawing, a transcription of all inscriptions and accurate dimensions are needed. David Stivers should be contacted to see if there are any Cream of Wheat archives that might shed light on the piece; and the provenance should be investigated to see if the piece can be traced to anyone associated with Cream of Wheat, such as the Mapes family.