Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
March
Alternate Title(s):The House; N. C. Wyeth's House; N. C. Wyeth's Home; Home of N. C. Wyeth
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1912
Dimensions:
24 1/2 × 29 1/4 in. (62.2 × 74.3 cm)
Private Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.140
Research Number: NCW: 140
InscribedLower left (not in the artist's hand) : N. C. W.; marked on frame: 54841; marked on top stretcher: No. 54841 / PICTURE; typescript label adhered to upper stretcher bar: N. C. WYETH 54841 / c. 1912-1914 / N. C. WYETH'S HOME / Ex. No. 15; written in black on proper left stretcher: No. 12 MARCH; small label on proper left stretcher: PLASTIC 657
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; (Knoedler Galleries, New York, NY, 1956 - ca. 1968, no. 54841); Elinor Gordon, 1968-2009; (Downingtown, PA, Pook & Pook, Inc., Jan. 15, 2010, lot no. 66, as "Home of N. C. Wyeth");
Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, PA, 1912 (1), no. 10, as "March"; New York, NY, 1957, no. 15, as "N. C. Wyeth's House"; Chadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 127, as "The House"; Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum, "N. C. Wyeth and The Philadelphia Sketch Club," March 20 - May 23, 2010, as "March";
References
Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), L.71, p. 720, 721, as "N. C. Wyeth's House"
Curatorial RemarksConservation treatment in 2010 revealed markings on the stretcher of this painting indicating that the artist himself titled it "March" and included it in the first exhibition of his landscape work, held at the Philadelphia Sketch Club in 1912. Placing the painting in the exhibition makes it possible to accurately date the painting--N. C. Wyeth purchased his Rocky Hill property in March of 1911, so the painting was executed in March of 1912, before the exhibition that took place in November of that year.
The label on the reverse that reads "PLASTIC 657" may refer to an exhibition (or sales) event at the Plastic Club in Philadelphia, just doors down from the Sketch Club. Plastic Club archives, however, held by the Pennsylvania Historical Society, contain no reference to Wyeth or the number (Courtesy, Matthew Lyons, Dr. of Archives and Collections, Management, HSP).
The painting depicts the view from the studio looking toward the Wyeth house to Chadds Ford. It is the view that caused the artist to write, "I have bought the most glorious sight in this township for a home!" (NCW to "Dear Folks," March 7, 1911, Wyeth Family Archives and reproduced in Betsy James Wyeth, ed. The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), p. 376).
The label on the reverse that reads "PLASTIC 657" may refer to an exhibition (or sales) event at the Plastic Club in Philadelphia, just doors down from the Sketch Club. Plastic Club archives, however, held by the Pennsylvania Historical Society, contain no reference to Wyeth or the number (Courtesy, Matthew Lyons, Dr. of Archives and Collections, Management, HSP).
The painting depicts the view from the studio looking toward the Wyeth house to Chadds Ford. It is the view that caused the artist to write, "I have bought the most glorious sight in this township for a home!" (NCW to "Dear Folks," March 7, 1911, Wyeth Family Archives and reproduced in Betsy James Wyeth, ed. The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), p. 376).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Hardcover: transparency directly from painting; website, digital photography from painting after 2010 conservation
Photo Credit:Hardcover: Joseph Painter, 10/2002; website, Joyce Hill Stoner, 3/2010