Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Wash Day in Plymouth / The Building of a Cabin, composition drawing ruled for transfer
Alternate Title(s):Mural Study for "Laundry Day in Plymouth / Building of a Cabin"
Medium: Graphite on paper glued to heavy board
Date: 1944/1945
Dimensions:
10 3/4 × 44 in. (27.3 × 111.8 cm)
Brandywine Museum of Art, Museum purchase, 1988
Accession number: 88.13
Research Number: NCW: 793
InscribedLower left: N. C. Wyeth; on paper, lower right: 26 slides / N. C. WYETH; image is ruled, in ink, in approx. two inch squares, and squares are numbered 1-26; along bottom of backing board: [missing]H DAY IN PLYMOUTH" 42' 3" Long 9' High PANEL 305 THE BUILDING of a CABIN PANEL 30[missing]
ProvenanceJohn Denys McCoy, prior to 1984; Harvey M. Foster, Ruidoso, NM, 1984-1988
Curatorial RemarksN. C. Wyeth's major work for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company was completed in 1941, however in 1944 he agreed to do another group of murals and began to plan the designs. The drawing for "Wash Day in Plymouth / The Building of a Cabin," titled by the artist, was complete at the time of his death; the drawing had been ruled and numbered and lantern slides, which would facilitate the transfer from drawing to canvas, had been made. After Wyeth's death, John McCoy, Wyeth's son-in-law, transferred the design to canvas and painted the mural. For a photograph of McCoy at work on the mural, see Anna B. McCoy, "John W. McCoy, American Painter" (Camden, Maine: Down East Books, 2001), p. 29. The Ann Wyeth McCoy collection, Brandywine River Museum, includes 15 lantern slides made from this drawing which were found in McCoy's studio.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:transparency from artwork
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer