Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Norry Seavey Hauling Traps Off Blubber Island
Medium: Oil on hardboard
Date: 1938
Dimensions:
25 × 30 in. (63.5 × 76.2 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.527
Research Number: NCW: 527
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined) TO R. L. SCAIFE; painted on reverse of panel: NORRY SEAVEY (underlined) HAULING TRAPS / OFF BLUBBER ISLAND (Blubber Island underlined) / WHICH LIES IN HERRING GUT/ PORT CLYDE, ME. / PAINTED FOR / ROGER SCAIFE / by his friend / N. C. WYETH / 1938
ProvenanceThe artist; Roger L. Scaife and descended in family; (Eldred's Auction House, Dennis, MA, Nov. 17, 2001, lot no. 778); (Frank E. Fowler); Collection of Cynthia & Eric Sambol; (Christie's, New York, NY, May 23, 2013, lot no. 76);
Exhibition HistorySyracuse, NY, Everson Museum of Art, "American Painting from 1830," Dec. 3, 1965 - Jan. 16, 1966, no. 69; Chadds Ford, PA, 2003
References
Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), L.211, p. 770, 771; Stephanie Cohen, "Re-evaluating the Wyeth Dynasty," Wall Street Journal, May 17, 2013, page D8;
Curatorial RemarksUsually, the artist did not identify the people he painted in Maine, preferring figures to stand for general concepts. The subject of this painting, however, identified as Norris Seavey, was a local lobsterman. Roger Scaife was a friend and editor at Houghton Mifflin who oversaw the publication of The Courtship of Miles Standish and The Odyssey of Homer.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:Transparency directly from painting
Photo Credit:Rick Echelmeyer, 7/2003