Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
untitled (study of a horse's head)
Medium: Graphite on paper
Date: 1905
Dimensions:
9 x 6 7/8 in. (23 x 17.5 cm)
Private collection
Accession number: SUPP2000.2239
Research Number: NCW: 2239
Inscribedunsigned
ProvenanceFrank E. Schoonover; Douglas Allen, Jr.; Collection of Barbara and Edward Aster, OR, 1997-2001; (Swann Galleries, New York, NY, lot no. 409, Jan. 17, 2002);
Exhibition HistoryEugene, OR, The University of Oregon, "N. C. Wyeth, The Art of Illustration," Jan. 28 - Feb. 27, 1999, Paintings and Drawings Checklist no. 7;
Curatorial RemarksAccording to Douglas Allen, N. C. Wyeth did this drawing for Frank E. Schoonover to help him with the illustration "Shorty had the best position for defense," published in "The Fight At Buckskin," by Clarence Mulford in Outing Magazine (Dec. 1905). In 1967 or 1968, Schoonover recalled to Allen that in painting this commission he had been having trouble with the angle of the horse's neck. He asked Wyeth for assistance, and Wyeth sketched the present work to show Schoonover how the horse's head should look. Schoonover told Allen that in gratitude, he painted N. C. Wyeth's hat in the bottom left corner of the completed painting. (See "A Wyeth Horse in a Schoonover Painting," dated July 12, 1997 by Douglas Allen, letter which authenticates the unsigned drawing; copy at Brandywine River Museum).