Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Blubber Island, Port Clyde, Maine
Alternate Title(s):Hydrographic Signal, Blubber Island; Hydrographic Signal
Medium: Tempera and oil paint on hardboard
Date: 1944
Dimensions:
24 3/8 × 48 in. (61.9 × 121.9 cm)
Brandywine River Museum of Art, Gift of Winfield Foster, Mark Foster, and Julie Foster Gilbert, 2005
Accession number: 2005.2
Label Copy:
Wyeth and his son Andrew were introduced to the techniques of tempera painting by Peter Hurd, who, in 1929, had married N. C.’s daughter Henriette. Unlike Andrew, however, who embraced the medium, N. C. Wyeth ultimately found that the practice did not suit his artistic temperament; in approximately half of the two dozen "tempera" paintings he completed between 1935 and 1945, he probably also incorporated oil-based pigments. Analysis has confirmed the presence of oil paint on this panel.
"Eight Bells," Wyeth’s summer home in Port Clyde, Maine, lies just outside of the left edge of the painting. The hydrographic signal marker seen here was a reference to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Coast and Geodetic Survey, a program that compiled and revised nautical charts. Silhouetted against the sky, the billowing fabric of the man-made marker contrasts with the island’s rugged and rocky shoreline. The spare composition, the artist’s precise style, and his rendering of the distinctive quality of Maine light give the painting a compelling clarity.
Wyeth and his son Andrew were introduced to the techniques of tempera painting by Peter Hurd, who, in 1929, had married N. C.’s daughter Henriette. Unlike Andrew, however, who embraced the medium, N. C. Wyeth ultimately found that the practice did not suit his artistic temperament; in approximately half of the two dozen "tempera" paintings he completed between 1935 and 1945, he probably also incorporated oil-based pigments. Analysis has confirmed the presence of oil paint on this panel.
"Eight Bells," Wyeth’s summer home in Port Clyde, Maine, lies just outside of the left edge of the painting. The hydrographic signal marker seen here was a reference to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Coast and Geodetic Survey, a program that compiled and revised nautical charts. Silhouetted against the sky, the billowing fabric of the man-made marker contrasts with the island’s rugged and rocky shoreline. The spare composition, the artist’s precise style, and his rendering of the distinctive quality of Maine light give the painting a compelling clarity.
Research Number: NCW: 428
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH; on reverse of panel edging in black ink: BLUBBER IS. / PORT CLYDE, ME. 1944 / N. C. WYETH (underlined); printed label adhered to reverse of original frame, with typewritten additions: SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF ART / EXHIBITION: ARTISTS UNDER 40 / ARTIST: Wyeth / TITLE: In the State of Maine / NO. 4602.42 DATE IN: 6.17.42 / LENDER: / ADDRESS: Whitney Museum
ProvenanceWith Wyeth family until at least 1950; (?); by late 1960s, Private collection, CA; descended in family to 2005;
Exhibition HistoryWashington, DC, 1946, no. 14, as "Hydrographic Signal, Blubber Island, 1944"; New York, NY, 1946, no. 7, as "Hydrographic Signal"; Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum of Art, June 22-Sept. 15, 2019, "N. C. Wyeth: New Perspectives," illus. p. 89, fig. 9 (not in checklist)
References
Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950," unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 97; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), L.226, p. 779, 780; Christine B. Podmaniczky, "True Brilliance Never Fades: N. C. Wyeth's Island Funeral," in Jessica May and Christine B. Podmaniczky, "N. C. Wyeth: New Perspectives" (Brandywine River Museum of Art and Portland Museum of Art, 2019), p. 89
Curatorial RemarksThis painting is unusual in that Wyeth worked on a "homemade" gessoed panel of 1/8" hardboard reinforced with a collaring on the perimeter, rather than on the commercially prepared "Renaissance Panels" he seemed to prefer at this date in his career. (Two other temperas done during his 8 week stay in Port Clyde during the late summer of 1944 were also done on panels he himself prepared.) The gesso-panel bond on this painting had separated by 2001; the painting was extensively treated at the Williamstown Art Conservation Center (2001) and at Winterthur/University of Delaware (2005/2006).
Andrew Wyeth recalled that this panel was started in tempera and later worked in oil. During conservation treatment (WUDACP), fluorochrome staining of a small cross-sectioned sample did not produce a strong reaction for proteins. (Matt Cushman to CBP, 11/17/2006, Brandywine River Museum, CR files).
An archival photograph (Brandywine River Museum library) with an inscription in Wyeth's hand documents the location of the site: Back side of Blubber Butt / Hydrographic Signal / "Eight Bells" lies just(underlined) out side (sic) of picture on left. NCW 967 is a detailed composition drawing known by archival photograph only and NCW 2211, 2212 and 2213 are studies for the painting, several with extensive color notations. Such signals, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Coast and Geodetic Survey program, were helpful in the compilation and revision of nautical charts (J. H. Hawley, "Hydrographic Manual," Dept. of Commerce, 1931).
The frame presently on the painting had been used for Andrew Wyeth's "In the State of Maine," a tempera painting of the same size which Andrew exhibited in 1941 at the Whitney Museum and in 1942 at the San Francisco Museum of Art.
Andrew Wyeth recalled that this panel was started in tempera and later worked in oil. During conservation treatment (WUDACP), fluorochrome staining of a small cross-sectioned sample did not produce a strong reaction for proteins. (Matt Cushman to CBP, 11/17/2006, Brandywine River Museum, CR files).
An archival photograph (Brandywine River Museum library) with an inscription in Wyeth's hand documents the location of the site: Back side of Blubber Butt / Hydrographic Signal / "Eight Bells" lies just(underlined) out side (sic) of picture on left. NCW 967 is a detailed composition drawing known by archival photograph only and NCW 2211, 2212 and 2213 are studies for the painting, several with extensive color notations. Such signals, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Coast and Geodetic Survey program, were helpful in the compilation and revision of nautical charts (J. H. Hawley, "Hydrographic Manual," Dept. of Commerce, 1931).
The frame presently on the painting had been used for Andrew Wyeth's "In the State of Maine," a tempera painting of the same size which Andrew exhibited in 1941 at the Whitney Museum and in 1942 at the San Francisco Museum of Art.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. Transparency directly from painting; 2. reverse of frame in 2004, showing label and inscription
Photo Credit:1.Trasnsparencies taken after conservation work, by staff photographer at Williamstown Art Conservation Center, 2001; 2. Lauren Silverson, Portland Museum of Art, 9/2004