"The Giant," 1923. Oil on
canvas from the collection of Westtown School, Westtown,
Pa.
N.C.
Wyeth:
PORTLAND, ME. - Anyone who grew up with the dramatic children's
Illustrated Classic series published by Charles Scribner and
Sons, which included Treasure Island, Kidnapped,
Westward Ho! and The Last of the Mohicans, already
knows the brilliant and magnetic images of one of America's best
loved illustrators - N.C. Wyeth. Now the public will have a
chance to view the work that N.C. Wyeth valued above his
illustrations: his art for art's sake.
Through October 15, the Portland Museum of Art estimates that
80,000 to 100,000 pairs of eyes will be musing over the many
canvases and selected drawings displayed throughout five first
floor galleries in which "N.C. Wyeth: " is on display. Choked by
early and profound success in the field of illustration, Newell
Convers Wyeth increasingly craved time to paint for himself. It
is this "" that is alluded to in the title of the show. One is
also mindful of additional years that N.C. Wyeth would have
painted had not his life been tragically cut short by a train
accident.
While illustrations fairly flew off his brush - he created
multitudinous works for publication during his lifetime
(1882-1945) - N.C. Wyeth never worked harder than when he strove
to distill the essence of fine art in the form of landscapes,
seascapes, still lifes, and portraits. He experimented with
impressionism and modernism, but realism remained his primary
vocabulary. He was never satisfied with his enormous success as
an illustrator.
The 56 works in the show offer a bounty of both his illustrative
and personal work, much of which has never before been exhibited
in the state of Maine. By viewing both types of work one can get
a sense of a man who was divided between illustration and art -
the wall between the two being fixed by N.C. Wyeth himself. He
plunged into the task of bringing light, form, and color to the
writing of world-class authors like Jules Verne, James Fenimore
Cooper, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, but
at the same time longed to paint (and did paint)
non-collaborative, deeply-felt paintings for himself.
"The Magic Pool," spring 1906. Oil on canvas from the
collection of Linda Bean Folkers.
The first large gallery contains about a dozen masterful
illustrations, including a 1911 painting of bloodthirsty pirates
hoisting the Jolly Roger for the cover of Robert Louis
Stevenson's Treasure Island, considered by many to be one
of the artist's finest groups of illustrations.
Also on display are first editions of a few of the Scribner
books. This is helpful, because the published book was how
millions of people came to know the paintings of N.C. Wyeth.
However, not all of the reproductions of the time faithfully
captured his color and clarity. Because of printing problems,
good reproductions were not to be taken for granted. The vibrant
color and large scale of the originals - complete with billowing
clouds, unresolved suspense, and superb compositions - will
likely stop the exhibition visitor in his/her tracks. When
reduced to inches and placed with the text of the books for which
they were created, the powerful images beckon visitors to ponder
precipitous outcomes. One must read on, but it is hard to tear
the eyes away from Wyeth's moment in time.
Perhaps you are in possession of a first edition Scribner
Illustrated Classic and will hunt for it in your library at the
first opportunity. Perhaps you will revisit the artist's great
paintings, as you flip through the old pages. If not so
fortunate, you might be interested to know that Wyeth's wife,
Carolyn B. Wyeth, renewed her husband's copyright in 1947, two
years after the artist's death, and that many of the original
classics have been reissued and are available at the Portland
Museum of Art store and other places. Atheneum Books for Young
Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Division, New York City, made new transparencies from the
original paintings by N.C. Wyeth, borrowing from museums and
private collectors, and have reissued The Last of the
Mohicans, Treasure Island, Kidnapped,
Robinson Crusoe, Robin Hood, and The
Yearling. The paintings are beautifully reproduced.
Also for sale at the museum store is N.C. Wyeth, a superb
biography written by David Michaelis and published by Alfred A.
Knopf, New York, 1998. Anyone reading this book will appreciate
the accomplishments of N.C. Wyeth on a whole new level. If you
can read it before the trip to Portland, so much the better.
The "N.C. Wyeth: " exhibition includes the cover sketch for
The Saturday Evening Post ("Bronco Buster"), painted in
1902, just four months after beginning his studies with Howard
Pyle, the reigning dean of American illustration. Pyle accepted
Wyeth as a full-fledged student the same month that the cover was
published, beginning a long mentor/protégé relationship that was
characterized by both mutual adoration and resentment at
different times. Pyle was hugely influential to the young Wyeth.
"Bronco Buster," one of three Western images in the show, was
Wyeth's first major breakthrough in illustration and is one of
many Western paintings that would establish Wyeth as a painter of
Western themes, among other things. He was sent to the West by
Scribner's Sons in 1904 and again in 1906 by The Outing
Magazine. Wyeth immersed himself in his surroundings, even
taking a job as an express mail rider when his funds were stolen.
In an illustration for Kidnapped by Robert Louis
Stevenson, published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1913, one can
see a young man poignantly straddling a crevice in the rocks,
with seawater streaming through the two rocks on which his feet
are placed. On one side a hand is clenched in a fist and on the
other side it is open as if in caution or alarm. Wyeth has put
the boy in a survival stance, prepared to fight or flee. The
title/caption reads "On The Island Of Earraid (but the second day
passed; and as long as the light lasted I kept a bright look-out
for boats on the sound or men passing on the Ross)."
When Wyeth painted "The Magic Pool" he had no specific narrative
in mind according to the exhibition curator, Daniel O'Leary,
museum director. The painting shows a lone Indian drinking from a
perfectly quiet black pool of water. The rocks have a cool bluish
cast, with bright orange and red foliage resting on them. A huge
dark tree trunk anchors the top left of the picture. The Indian
seems unaware of any observers, as he submerges his lips to drink
as would other forest dwellers. He is beautiful and vulnerable at
the same time. The red color of his loincloth suggests that he
too might pass, just like the fallen leaves scattered about him
on the rocks. Only the rings of water with the Indian's mouth at
the center show us movement. When The Outing Magazine saw
the picture they used it for the frontispiece of the poem "The
Indian in his Solitude," June 1907, vol. L, number 3.
Sometimes able to turn down the publishers and editors who came
clamoring to him for more and more illustrations. Wyeth carved
out enough time to give the public an idea of his own values and
ideals in art. The larger part of the exhibition is devoted to
these paintings and drawings.
N.C. Wyeth adored the writings of Henry David Thoreau, and made
Nature central to his art, both before and after he read
Thoreau's Walden in 1912. Most of his non-narrative
personal paintings were inspired by his favorite places: Needham,
Mass., where he was born and raised in a family of four brothers;
Chadds Ford, Pa., where he built his studio and "homestead" and
raised his own three daughters and two sons (including Andrew
Wyeth); and Port Clyde, Me., where he spent summers at "Eight
Bells," a former sea captain's home which he purchased with his
friend artist Sydney M. Chase in 1920. Wyeth named the Port Clyde
house after a painting by Winslow Homer, whom he greatly admired.
"Black Spruce Ledge," 1941. Tempera and oil on Renaissance
panel from the collection of Linda Bean Folkers.
"Black Spruce Ledge" figures big in the show. There are two
drawings, one a charcoal and the other a pencil sketch (both
1939); and two paintings, one in tempera (1939) and the other in
oil and tempera (1941). Each features basically the same view - a
long lobsterman in front of a back-lit rock formation topped with
windswept spruce trees. The works exude an aura of serenity. An
unseen light source illuminates the sparkling blue water, the
lobsterman, his boat, and the rocks and clouds. The earlier
painting has more visible brush strokes, lighter color, and more
movement in the water. The latter painting has more intense
contrast between light and dark, a slightly more subdued palette,
and a smoother finish. The artist has expressed both strength and
vitality in these reverent pictures.
Men at work on the sea appealed to Wyeth. In "Sun Glint," another
lobsterman is tending to his trap. More beautiful, the sparkling
Maine water surface ruffles in a light wind. One can just about
hear the water lapping on the sides of the boat and the nearby
rocks. As with "Black Spruce Ledge," the experience is kept
universal. These are not men with identifiable faces.
In 1996, Elizabeth B. Noyce set this show in motion with her
bequest of "Dark Harbor Fisherman" to the Portland Museum of Art.
During the next four years, curator of the exhibition Daniel
O'Leary gathered 56 works from 33 different sources. This
included a dozen museums, many private collectors, members of the
Wyeth family, and ten anonymous collectors.
O'Leary was convinced that the private work of N.C. Wyeth should
be "explored further and placed in juxtaposition with his dynamic
illustrations to underscore the extraordinary range his art
achieved," as he states in the 64-page exhibition catalog N.C.
Wyeth: , published by the Portland Art Museum.
The exhibition catalog has 26 color images of works in the show
plus some previously unpublished photos of Wyeth on Monhegan
Island in addition to other photographs. It is written by Daniel
O'Leary, Linda Bean Folkers (one of the show's major lenders),
and Lorenza Coffin, who is a manager of special projects at the
museum.
The Portland Museum of Art is at Seven Congress Square;
207/773-ARTS or 800/639-4067. The museum is open from 10 am to 5
pm, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, and 10 am to 9 pm
on Thursday and Friday. Through Columbus Day, October 9, the
museum will also be open on Monday from 10 am to 5 pm.
