“N.C. Wyeth: New Perspectives” at Brandywine River Museum of Art
N.C. Wyeth, Island Funeral, 1939, egg tempera and oil on hardboard.
By Taylor Smith
Brandywine River Museum in scenic Chadds Ford, Pa., presents a new exhibit entitled “N.C. Wyeth: New Perspectives,” on view June 22, 2019 to September 15, 2019.
The exhibit will include 70 paintings and drawings, along with a number of objects from the artists’s studio collection. The accompanying catalogue will be peppered with essays from Wyeth scholars.
Newell Convers Wyeth (known as N.C. Wyeth) was an American artist and illustrator born in Needham, Mass., who came to live in Chadds Ford. Wyeth was a pupil of the artist Howard Pyle and earned substantial acclaim during his lifetime for his more than 3,000 paintings and 112 illustrated books. His illustrations for Scribner’s Treasure Island were a big success, and allowed him to pursue the craft of painting full-time.
Wyeth’s extensive work as an illustrator was also seen in posters, calendars, and advertisements for clients like Lucky Strike, Cream of Wheat, and Coca Cola. The home and studio of N.C. Wyeth was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997 and both are open to public tours. Interestingly, the studio is set up exactly as he left it, with the palette of paint he used on the day of his death still resting near the canvas.
As many art lovers know, the Wyeths were a highly creative family, and Newell’s son Jamie Wyeth continues to earn wide recognition for his own artwork.
The exhibit is made possible by Ms. Linda L. Bean, The Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, Wyeth Foundation for American Art, the National Endowment for the Arts, George Lucas Family Foundation, Dr. Benjamin F. Hammond, Sotheby’s, and Freeman’s.
“N.C. Wyeth: New Perspectives” was organized in partnership with Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine, and will take-up residence there once it leaves Chadds Ford.
To learn more, visit https://www.brandywine.org/museum.
N.C. Wyeth, Tapping up and down the road in a frenzy, and groping and calling for his comrades, 1911, oil on canvas.
