Untitled (Cow, calf and barn)

Artist:

N.C. Wyeth

(American, 1882 - 1945)

Untitled (Cow, calf and barn)

Medium: Charcoal or crayon on paper
Date: ca. 1917
Dimensions:
15 1/2 × 20 in. (39.4 × 50.8 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.2640
Research Number: NCW: 2640
Inscribedlower right: WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceThe artist; (?); Leal Mack to 1962; Estate of Leal Mack
Curatorial RemarksLeal Mack studied with N. C. Wyeth in Chadds Ford in 1916 and for part of 1917, and worked as an illustrator in a Wilmington, Delaware, studio for approximately 15 years thereafter. Mack eventually moved to the American southwest in the late 30s or early 1940s. It is likely that Wyeth gave this drawing to Mack, or that Mack purchased it from him.
The drawing may be an early study for what eventually became Wyeth's large oil painting of 1917, Newborn Calf (NCW 29). In early October in a letter written to his brother Stimson, Wyeth specifically states that he had just made a radical change in the composition of the painting, changing the position of the calf from standing to lying down. This supposition is supported by the fact that the drawing belonged to Mack, who is known to have studied with Wyeth in 1916/1917.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:digital image from artwork
Photo Credit:Courtesy of owner