Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Three Fishermen
Medium: Oil and tempera on hardboard
Date: 1938
Dimensions:
28 × 33 in. (71.1 × 83.8 cm)
IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY
Accession number: SUPP2000.589
Research Number: NCW: 589
InscribedLower right: N. C. WYETH / 1938 ; written on reverse of panel in pencil: 604-1; written in cursive and printed in pencil on reverse of panel: THREE FISHERMAN (sic); adhered to reverse of panel, remnants of label: illisted / Art Gallery / Windsor, Ontario
ProvenancePurchased from artist through Macbeth Gallery, 1940
Exhibition HistoryWilmington, DE, 1938(2), no. 66; New York, NY, 1939, no. 12, illus. b/w on cover of brochure; New York, NY, IBM's Gallery of Science and Art at the World's Fair, "Contemporary Art of the United States," May 11- Oct. 27, 1940, no. 35, illus. b/w; Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC, (and other venues in U.S. and Canada), "Contemporary Art of the Western Hemisphere," 1941, no. 8 and illus. b/w in Corcoran catalogue, no. 58 in permanent collection exhibition catalogue, 1941; VARIOUS TRAVELING EXHIBITIONS organized by IMB: "Thirty Americans Since 1860" (1948), "20 Paintings by Americans" (1951), "20 Paintings by Americans" (1958), "American Paintings of the 30s and 40s (1967), "People and Places" (1969); Stamford, CT, Whitney Museum of American Art, "Four American Families: A Tradition of Artistic Pursuit," Nov. 11, 1983 - Jan. 11, 1984; New York, NY, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, "American Images: Selections from the IBM Collection," May 31 - June 19, 1984; New York, NY, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, "50 Years of Collecting: Art at IBM," Sept. 12- Nov. 25, 1989, no. 5, illus. in color (unpaginated)
References
N. C. Wyeth, Income Tax Notes for 1939 (unpublished, Brandywine River Museum Library); "Wyeth Represents Delaware," Art Digest, vol. XIV, no. 17 (June 1, 1940), illus. b/w p. 13; Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), P.54, p. 823-824
Curatorial RemarksAccording to his income tax notes for 1940 and a letter from IBM (Thomas Watson to NCW, Oct. 14, 1940, Wyeth Family Archives), the artist received $750 for the sale of this painting; subsequently the painting won Fourth Prize in a juried exhibition organized by IBM, an award worth an additional $350. It was Andrew Wyeth's recollection that the painting was done in both oil and tempera (notes by Betsy James Wyeth on Andrew Wyeth's recollections of his father's tempera paintings, Catalogue Raisonne files, Brandywine River Museum). In a review of the NY 1939 exhibition, (undated and unidentified clipping, BRM library, but probably from The New York Sun by Henry McBride), the author writes: When he attempts the sentimental, as in the one called "Three Fishermen," he then drifts into the stiff, the self-comscious and the posed."
The Brandywine River Museum collection includes an earlier oil on canvas version (NCW 590, 96.1.39) of this painting, a small composition drawing (NCW 1787, 96.1.84) from which a lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.245) was made, and the photomechanical plate (NCWS.95.6752) from which the Corcoran catalogue illustration was printed. See the entry for NCW 590 for information on influences and design.
The Brandywine River Museum collection includes an earlier oil on canvas version (NCW 590, 96.1.39) of this painting, a small composition drawing (NCW 1787, 96.1.84) from which a lantern slide (NCWS.95.1825.245) was made, and the photomechanical plate (NCWS.95.6752) from which the Corcoran catalogue illustration was printed. See the entry for NCW 590 for information on influences and design.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. Digital photography directly from painting; 2. archival photograph ca. 1940, showing artist in studio with Three Fishermen, taken for publicity purposes after IBM purchase
Photo Credit:1. Paul Mutino, 6/2006; 2. Edward J. S. Seal