Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Anne, Stephen, and Lesby
Alternate Title(s):Lesby
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1931
Dimensions:
40 × 32 1/2 in. (101.6 × 82.6 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.545
Research Number: NCW: 545
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceThe artist; Mrs. N. C. Wyeth; Carolyn Wyeth to 1982; (Frank E. Fowler, Lookout Mountain, TN); (Newman Galleries, Philadelphia, PA, ca. 1982); (?); (Sally Turner Gallery, Phoenix, AZ, 1988); (?); (Judy Goffman American Paintings, New York, NY, 1989)
References
Richard Layton, "Inventory of Paintings in the Wyeth Studio, 1950," unpublished, Wyeth Family Archives, p. 37; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr. N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972), p. 233; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.1171, p. 537
Curatorial Remarks"Lesby" was one of the finalists in a $5,000 prize story contest conducted by Scribner's in 1930. The story appeared in the December issue and in 1931 was published in book form. According to copy on the dust cover, among the many who wrote in praise of the story was N. C. Wyeth, "the distinguished illustrator, who declared it worthy of standing by the side of Edith Wharton's 'Ethan Frome.' " In the same undated letter to Joseph Chapin, the art editor at Scribner's, Wyeth proclaimed the setting (a remote Canadian farm) "intrinsically attractive and compelling and yet so universal in character..." (NCW to Joseph H. Chapin, undated, Archives of Charles Scribner's Sons, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library).
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Courtesy of private collector