Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Chadds Ford Hills
Alternate Title(s):Return of the Fox Hunters / Brandywine Valley;
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1927
Dimensions:
43 × 48 in. (109.2 × 121.9 cm)
Collection of Ron and Cheryl Howard
Accession number: SUPP2000.1018
Research Number: NCW: 1018
InscribedLower left: N. C. WYETH (underlined)
ProvenanceThe artist; L. Stauffer Oliver, Philadelphia, PA, and descended in family; (Christie's, New York, NY, lot no. 110, Nov. 29, 2000, as "Chadds Ford Hills")
Exhibition HistoryYonkers, NY, Hudson River Museum, "Paintbox Leaves: Autumnal Inspiration from Cole to Wyeth," Sept. 25, 2010--Jan. 16, 2011, p. 35, illus. in color, ps. 32 and 94
References
Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), L.156, p. 750, 751
Curatorial RemarksThe authority for the title and date of this painting rests with an archival photograph inscribed in the artist's hand: Chadds Ford Hills / 1927 (Brandywine River Museum library collection, #3232). The modernistic style of the view is consistent with Wyeth's work at this time. The archival photograph includes the original framing. The daughter of the first owner recalled that the painting was acquired in the fall of 1931; she believed it was her father who suggested the hunting vignette (N. C. Wyeth Catalogue Raisonne Project files, Brandywine River Museum). The vignette is uncharacteristic of Wyeth's work and may have been added when the sale was agreed upon.
In an undated letter to friend Edward K. Robinson, Wyeth wrote, "I am working much more intensively than ever and really believe that I am pulling into an idiom of expression that will amount to something...I am enclosing three photos of three canvases done in the past year which slightly indicate my direction....The other is an expression of autumn in these hills here...." (NCW to Ed. K. Robinson, undated, privately held.) The letter contained a photograph of "Chadds Ford Hills," on the reverse of which Wyeth had written "Return of the Fox Hunters / Brandywine Valley."
In an undated letter to friend Edward K. Robinson, Wyeth wrote, "I am working much more intensively than ever and really believe that I am pulling into an idiom of expression that will amount to something...I am enclosing three photos of three canvases done in the past year which slightly indicate my direction....The other is an expression of autumn in these hills here...." (NCW to Ed. K. Robinson, undated, privately held.) The letter contained a photograph of "Chadds Ford Hills," on the reverse of which Wyeth had written "Return of the Fox Hunters / Brandywine Valley."
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. Transparency directly from painting; 2. Archival photograph showing original framing
Photo Credit:1. Paul Mutino, 6/2000; 2. Brandywine River Museum Library, N. C. Wyeth Collections