Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Sweet Land of Liberty
Medium: Oil on hardboard
Date: 1943
Dimensions:
48 × 36 1/2 in. (121.9 × 92.7 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.868
Research Number: NCW: 868
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH
ProvenanceHercules Powder Company, Inc. (Hercules Incorporated), Wilmington, DE; Private collection, and descended in family; (Sotheby's, New York, NY, May 23, 2007, lot no. 189)
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1968, no. 23
References
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 153; Bob Strauss, Beverly Strauss, American Sporting Advertising, Vol. I, Posters and Calendars (Jefferson, ME: Circus Promotions Corp., 1987), HE-31; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), C.176, p. 696; John Dorfman, "American Originals," Art and Antiques (May, 2011), p. 53
Curatorial RemarksThe original design concept for this painting was sent to Wyeth by C. F. Haist of Forbes Lithograph Mfg., agent for Hercules (C. F. Haist to NCW, April 1, 1943, Wyeth Family Archives). Wyeth presented Hercules with a charcoal drawing of the scene, accompanied by a letter in which he described "the color-mood" of the picture. "The effect," he wrote, "will be the rich golden light of the later afternoon...the white oak on the left, the sparse apple tree with scattered fruit on the right, and the great elm beyond, will carry the varying and characteristic shades of autumnal coloration...the distant hills will be a warm plum color and the sky a luminous gold....The emotional and romantic elements, applying to each and every detail, will have a very universal appeal and will...represent to the great majority of the people...the essence of what we are fighting to preserve--freedom, peace and the home" (undated letter to Theodore Marvin, Hercules Powder Company, to NCW, private collection). The Brandywine River Museum holds the charcoal composition drawing (NCW 2046) and the lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.174) used in the transfer of the design from paper to panel.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. photography directly from painting
Photo Credit:1 and 2. Peter Paul Geoffrion, Oct. 2006