Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Tramp Steamer
Alternate Title(s):Leaving Port in a Distant Land; The Pack Mule of the Sea
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1924
Dimensions:
174 1/2 × 132 1/2 in. (443.2 × 336.6 cm)
Bank of America Merrill Lynch Collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.804
Research Number: NCW: 804
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined) / 1924
ProvenanceFirst National Bank of Boston; by corporate merger to present owner
References
"The Mural Paintings, An Interview with the Painter N. C. Wyeth," pamphlet published by the First National Bank of Boston, n.d.; N. C. Wyeth, "Banking Requires the Wings of the Sea," Boston Evening Transcript, Sept. 2, 1924; "Sea Trade from its Earliest Inception, Motif of Murals," Boston Herald, Sept. 2, 1924, (includes long quotation from NCW); "First National Bank of Boston, Boston, Mass," Architecture and Building Magazine, vol. LVI, no. 12 (Dec.1924), pg. 111-112; "Pack Mule of the Sea: By N. C. Wyeth," illus. in color p. 17, and N. C. Wyeth, "Tramps and Clippers," p. 38, in Ladies Home Journal, vol. XLII, no. 8 (Aug. 1925, adapted from Boston Evening Transcript text noted above); Anton Kamp, "N. C. Wyeth, Painter and Illustrator," The Artgum, vol. IV, no. 4 (April 1926), illus. b/w p. 15; F.J. Stimson, "Boston of the Future," Scribner's Magazine, vol. LXXXIV, no. 1 (July 1928), illus. b/w p. 11; Wallace W. Atwood and Helen G. Thomas, The Earth and Its People / Book One / Home Life in Far-Away Lands (Boston: Ginn and Co., 1928), color frontispiece illustration, as "Leaving Port in a Distant Land"; Francis W. Hatch, "Sole Witness to the Wyeth Canal," Yankee Magazine, (Sept. 1970), p. 47; Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), ps. 698, 704; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 161, illus. b/w p. 163; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), M.25, p. 609
Curatorial Remarks"The tramp steamer, the modern cargo carrier, the dependable, patient, colossal pack-mule of the sea! A craft that has suffered much in the eyes of all who refuse to read beauty and romance into her daily toil and majestic bulk" (from "The Mural Paintings, An Interview with the Painter N. C. Wyeth," pamphlet published by the First National Bank of Boston, n.d.).
The Brandywine River Museum holds two archival photographs of the mural, probably taken in the artist's Chadds Ford studio; one is inscribed on the reverse in the artist's hand: The Tramp Steamer / The First National Bank / of Boston. The museum also holds a lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.39), probably made from an archival photograph. NCW 805 is the presentation piece.
Bank of America's collection includes photographs of the mural in situ taken by Margaret Bourke-White on Oct. 29, 1929. The mural was removed from its position in the building at 67 Milk Street, Boston, in 1972.
The Brandywine River Museum holds two archival photographs of the mural, probably taken in the artist's Chadds Ford studio; one is inscribed on the reverse in the artist's hand: The Tramp Steamer / The First National Bank / of Boston. The museum also holds a lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.39), probably made from an archival photograph. NCW 805 is the presentation piece.
Bank of America's collection includes photographs of the mural in situ taken by Margaret Bourke-White on Oct. 29, 1929. The mural was removed from its position in the building at 67 Milk Street, Boston, in 1972.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. transparency directly from artwork; 2. detail from lower right corner
Photo Credit:1. Michael Gould; 2. Michael Gould