Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Untitled (three pirates)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: ca. 1929 / 1931
Dimensions:
29 × 40 in. (73.7 × 101.6 cm)
Private collection, CA
Accession number: SUPP2000.1966
Research Number: NCW: 1966
Provenanceacquired from the artist in the 1920s or 1930s, and descended in family; (Richard Opfer Auctioneering, Timonium, MD, March 30, 2006); (Vallejo Gallery, Newport Beach, CA, 2006)
References
Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), O.10, p. 835
Curatorial RemarksAndrew Wyeth and Jamie Wyeth believe this painting to be by N. C. Wyeth. It came to auction in 2006 from a Baltimore area family, who asserted that the work had been commissioned "in the 20s" by the Black Flag Company of Baltimore as an employment enticement for a family member.
In 2013, a cropped print of this painting (on composite board measuring 23 3/4 x 39 7/8 inches) was brough to the Brandywine River Museum, by the owner who had acquired it in the early 1960s from a lumber contractor in Lansdown, PA. In the print, the chest carried by the pirates was painted in. Below it, visible through the paint, was a picture (possibly collaged on to the print) of a Black Flag product. (Wording seems identical to the label on "Black Flag Liquid" as packaged in a tin container with screw top, possibly dating from late 1920s into 1930s.) Additional repainting had been done in the cloud area.
Andrew Wyeth felt that the work was done as a demonstration for Peter Hurd who was painting images for the Whitman's Chocolates "Pleasure Island" advertising campaign which appeared in magazines from 1929 to 1931 (for example, Saturday Evening Post, April 13, 1929, May 24, 1930, Feb. 28, 1931). But given the appearance of the print with the Black Flag associations, that provenance seems more likely.
Both Andrew Wyeth and Jamie Wyeth feel that the signature is not in N. C. Wyeth's hand.
The painting was examined by xradiography in 2006 (Brandywine River Museum, catalogue raisonne files). An under-image in vertical orientation, possibly also a pirate subject, does not correspond to any published image by N. C. Wyeth known at this time. The painting has been lined twice and is trimmed of its tacking edge.
The Andrew and Betsy Wyeth collection includes a drawing (NCW 2246.158) of two pirates on a beach lifting a chest which Andrew Wyeth also identified as related to Hurd's Whitman's Chocolates commission.
In 2013, a cropped print of this painting (on composite board measuring 23 3/4 x 39 7/8 inches) was brough to the Brandywine River Museum, by the owner who had acquired it in the early 1960s from a lumber contractor in Lansdown, PA. In the print, the chest carried by the pirates was painted in. Below it, visible through the paint, was a picture (possibly collaged on to the print) of a Black Flag product. (Wording seems identical to the label on "Black Flag Liquid" as packaged in a tin container with screw top, possibly dating from late 1920s into 1930s.) Additional repainting had been done in the cloud area.
Andrew Wyeth felt that the work was done as a demonstration for Peter Hurd who was painting images for the Whitman's Chocolates "Pleasure Island" advertising campaign which appeared in magazines from 1929 to 1931 (for example, Saturday Evening Post, April 13, 1929, May 24, 1930, Feb. 28, 1931). But given the appearance of the print with the Black Flag associations, that provenance seems more likely.
Both Andrew Wyeth and Jamie Wyeth feel that the signature is not in N. C. Wyeth's hand.
The painting was examined by xradiography in 2006 (Brandywine River Museum, catalogue raisonne files). An under-image in vertical orientation, possibly also a pirate subject, does not correspond to any published image by N. C. Wyeth known at this time. The painting has been lined twice and is trimmed of its tacking edge.
The Andrew and Betsy Wyeth collection includes a drawing (NCW 2246.158) of two pirates on a beach lifting a chest which Andrew Wyeth also identified as related to Hurd's Whitman's Chocolates commission.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. photography directly from artwork; 2. xradiography of painting
Photo Credit:1. Vallejo Gallery, Newport Beach, CA; 2. Courtesy of Richard C. Wolbers