Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
untitled (cowboy and Indian, fighting with a knife on galloping horses)
Medium: Charcoal on paper
Date: ca. 1904
Dimensions:
approximately 28 × 22 in. (71.1 × 55.9 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.1537
Research Number: NCW: 1537
InscribedLower left: (1 illegible word) / -- WYETH-- 07
Curatorial RemarksThis drawing is known only through a photograph held by the Brandywine River Museum showing the framed drawing on an easel, probably in the studio of restorer Albert Dion, who worked for Wildenstein's. On the reverse of the photograph (which Nicholas Wyeth believes must date prior to 1970) is an adhesive label: CHARCOAL ILL / WESTERN / N. C. WYETH / 22 " X 28" $ 9,000.00. Written in Nicholas Wyeth's hand on photograph: This was owned by / one of: / Mr. Albert Dion's / Friends.
Despite the date written on the front of the drawing, this may be the image Wyeth described in a letter dated in another hand Feb. 8, 1904, "Tomorrow I intend to make a composition that will make a big hit or else fall terribly flat. I'm going to make two horses coming straight at you down a steep incline, very rocky and dangerous, ridden by two Indians -- one a wild warrior and one a half civilized frontier police Indian, one in the government service which means that he is a traitor to his tribe. I'm going to make the horses closely abreast, the men grappling and fighting with knives, all extremely strenuous in action. Mr. Pyle dislikes such subjects but I'm going to do my best."
Despite the date written on the front of the drawing, this may be the image Wyeth described in a letter dated in another hand Feb. 8, 1904, "Tomorrow I intend to make a composition that will make a big hit or else fall terribly flat. I'm going to make two horses coming straight at you down a steep incline, very rocky and dangerous, ridden by two Indians -- one a wild warrior and one a half civilized frontier police Indian, one in the government service which means that he is a traitor to his tribe. I'm going to make the horses closely abreast, the men grappling and fighting with knives, all extremely strenuous in action. Mr. Pyle dislikes such subjects but I'm going to do my best."
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:photography directly from artwork