Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Untitled (probably Captain Onion)
Medium: charcoal on paper
Date: ca. 1900
Dimensions:
16 1/2 x 16 1/4 in.
Private Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.2674
Research Number: NCW: 2674
ProvenanceThe artist; Leal Mack, ca. 1917; Estate of Leal Mack, Taos, NM to 1990s; [Bent Street Gallery, Taos, NM]; [Hirsch Gallery, Taos, NM]
Curatorial RemarksThis work, created before Wyeth left Needham to join the Howard Pyle School, probably depicts Captain Onion, a Civil War veteran and a Wyeth boyhood hero (see NCW 2322, an oil portrait, and NCW 906, a watercolor depiction of the distinctive Onion family home, across the Charles River from the Wyeth. property). When Onion died, parts of his uniform were given to Wyeth.
The drawing was owned by artist Leal Mack (1892-1962), who studied briefly with Wyeth in Chadds Ford, beginning in September 1915. Wyeth and Mack were ill-suited--at one point Wyeth dismissed Mack from the class (NCW to HZW, May 19, 1916), calling him "not industrious enough." Mack eventually moved to New Mexico, and became an illustrator of western subjects.
The drawing was owned by artist Leal Mack (1892-1962), who studied briefly with Wyeth in Chadds Ford, beginning in September 1915. Wyeth and Mack were ill-suited--at one point Wyeth dismissed Mack from the class (NCW to HZW, May 19, 1916), calling him "not industrious enough." Mack eventually moved to New Mexico, and became an illustrator of western subjects.