Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
The Thanksgiving Feast
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1940
Dimensions:
108 × 274 in. (274.3 × 696 cm)
Collection of MetLife, New York
Accession number: SUPP2000.448
Research Number: NCW: 448
ProvenanceCommissioned from NCW by Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
Exhibition HistoryNew York, NY, 1985, no. 3, color illustration in exhibition brochure
References
N. C. Wyeth, Income Tax Notes for 1940 (unpublished, Brandywine River Museum library); "The Days of the Pilgrims Live Again in Our Murals," The Home Office (publication of Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.), vol. 23, no. 7 (Dec. 1941), ps. 8-9; Gene Byrnes, A Complete Guide to Drawing, Illustration, Cartooning, and Painting (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1948), p. 328; Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), ps. 169-172, b/w illustration p. 170; Kate F. Jennings, N. C. Wyeth (New York: Brompton Books Corp., Crescent Books, 1992), color illustration p. 78-79; Robert San Souci, N. C. Wyeth's Pilgrims (San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 1991), color illustration (unpaginated); Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), M.64, p. 627
Curatorial RemarksThe Thanksgiving Feast, which included Thanksgiving with the Indians, was the only mural completed by Jan. 1st, 1941 (NCW to Peter Hurd, Sept. 26, 1940, indicating that the mural on which Wyeth was working comprised some 60 figures; and NCW to Henriette Wyeth Hurd, Dec. 7, 1940, work finished, both Wyeth Family Archives). Archival photographs show The Thanksgiving Feast and Thanksgiving with the Indians as originally conceived and painted in one unit, stretched along two walls of the artist's studio. In situ, the decoration occupied the entire wall of the Main Lounge in the Lunch Room area of Met Life's new building referred to as Unit 2. The original installation is shown in a photograph in the James P. Simpson Collection, Brandywine River Museum library.
The Brandywine River Museum holds 12 lantern slides of the composition rendered in outline and ruled for transfer (NCWS.95.1825.380-.391), as documented in a letter of late September, "John (McCoy) has traced the sketches and these tracings have been made into slides...," (NCW to Andrew Wyeth, "Dear Andy, "I've a few minutes left of daylight..." and dated in another hand Sept. 30, 1940, Wyeth Family Archives). NCW 1431 is the presentation sketch for this composition, and NCW 2160 is an early composition drawing. The Museum's collection also includes extensive correspondence between the artist and the architect Arthur O. Angilly which touches on all phases of the commission.
In the mid-1980s, the MetLife murals were removed from the walls of their original location at One Madison Avenue, New York, and placed on strainers. MetLife now occupies new corporate headquarters on Bryant Park, but this mural remains in the Madison Avenue building.
The Brandywine River Museum holds 12 lantern slides of the composition rendered in outline and ruled for transfer (NCWS.95.1825.380-.391), as documented in a letter of late September, "John (McCoy) has traced the sketches and these tracings have been made into slides...," (NCW to Andrew Wyeth, "Dear Andy, "I've a few minutes left of daylight..." and dated in another hand Sept. 30, 1940, Wyeth Family Archives). NCW 1431 is the presentation sketch for this composition, and NCW 2160 is an early composition drawing. The Museum's collection also includes extensive correspondence between the artist and the architect Arthur O. Angilly which touches on all phases of the commission.
In the mid-1980s, the MetLife murals were removed from the walls of their original location at One Madison Avenue, New York, and placed on strainers. MetLife now occupies new corporate headquarters on Bryant Park, but this mural remains in the Madison Avenue building.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:1. Transparency directly from painting; 2. Archival photo showing N. C. Wyeth in the mural studio in Chadds Ford, with The Thanksgiving Feast at right, print dated March 12, 1941 (Brandywine River Museum library); 3. View of the murals in situ, in an undated photograph (Brandywine River Museum library, James P. Simpson collection)
Photo Credit:1. Photo by: Malcolm Varon, NYC, copyright © 2007; 2. Photo by Edward J. S. Seal; 3. Photographer unknown