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N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Fight with Old Slewfoot
Alternate Title(s)
- Fight with Old Slewfoot
1939
30 1/8 × 22 1/4 in. (76.5 × 56.5 cm)
2012.9
© artist, artist's estate, or other rights holders
Gift of Henry H. Silliman, Jr., in memory of Mariana duPont Silliman, 2012
Not on view
Wyeth worked directly with author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings as he painted the illustrations for The Yearling. He made a trip to her home in Cross Creek, Florida, in the spring of 1939 to meet Rawlings and experience the landscape that was the setting for her book. The Wyeth Family Archives includes several photographs of caged bears he saw the area.
The illustrations for The Yearling are done in a medium Wyeth first used for Men of Concord (1936)—thinly applied oil paint on gessoed panels. Wyeth’s images for The Yearling provided inspiration for distinct scenes in the movie version of the story, filmed in 1946.