GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Best known for his vivid and exciting illustrations of American literary classics, N. C. Wyeth worked, for the last several years of his life, on a series of easel paintings exploring the quiet beauty of the country around his summer home in Port Clyde, Maine. Around the same time as he began working on this rural landscape, Wyeth learned tempera painting techniques from his son-in-law, Peter Hurd (1904-1984). He began relying on tempera's subtle color effects and layered application rather than his earlier fondness for oil paint or watercolor. Wyeth completed Road to the Jones House in tempera and included it in his first one-man exhibition at Macbeth Galleries in December 1939.
Emily Schiller, Digital Collections Content Coordinator, 2015.
NOTES
This note was tagged #routed in June 2015 and Sue's revisions (in a Word doc created by ASG) have been applied to the note as of October 2015. As of January 2017 I am adding the #draft tag to this note so that it is harvested to Google Drive. Once I am sure that all pending TMS or Piction data entry is complete, I will remove the #routed tag, add the #complete tag, and move the Google Doc to Queta's folder so that it is not re-routed to Sue.
The Brandywine Museum's online catalogue raisonné for N.C. Wyeth gives slightly different information for this work than the metadata currently in TMS record. I revised the date (to 1939) and medium (to egg tempera on hardboard) based on the catalogue raisonné.
I entered provenance, exhibition history, and published resources based on the catalogue raisonné.
SUE WANTS ME TO REVISE TITLES ACCORDING TO THIS IN TMS and ADD FORMER TITLES AS "ALTERNATE TITLES":
I did not revise the title/former titles according to the catalogue raisonné. It uses "The Road to the Jones House," as the primary title. Former titles include: Road to the Jones House, Road to the Jones' House, The Jones House, and The Road by the Jones House.
The catalogue raisonné also lists a related work, "NCW 2194 is a composition drawing with extensive color notations."
There are many more bibliographic and published reference resources available in the object file and the Mayer Library artist file. These do not currently appear in the TMS record. In addition, it would be helpful if the library artist file was cross-referenced (or duplicated) in the primary object file and indicated in the TMS record in some way.
The GENERAL DESCRIPTION was rewritten from current label for Wyeth, The Hupper Farm, 1960.69 to incorporate new information found in the catalogue raisonné.
Removed TMS object tag because rule exists.
Possibly related to Andrew Wyeth's Jim Smalley, Fisherman? (Object draft- 1938.22 Wyeth, Jim Smalley, Fisherman)
I noticed that the house and trees in the background of this work appears to be very similar to the house shown in Andrew Wyeth's Jim Smalley, Fisherman (1938.22). I did not see any documentation mentioning this in either object file but the father and son would have known the same neighbors and locations around their Maine home.
The N.C. Wyeth Catalogue Raisonne online returned the following painting when I searched for "Smalley." It is dated around the same time as Andrew Wyeth's Jim Smalley, Fisherman and the additional research note (inserted below thumbnail) supports the possibility of overlapping subjects in Andrew Wyeth's early works.
"Andrew Wyeth recalled that the figures in this painting portray neighbors Jim Smalley and Harry Lowell. The scene is along Horse Point Road in Port Clyde, Maine, and as such should be considered a candidate for the painting in the 1938 Utica, NY, exhibition entitled "The Road to Horse Point" (see "Exhibit of Wyeth Paintings Opens At Institute Today," Utica Daily Press, March 12, 1938, p. 14). The present title is descriptive and has no archival authority."
N.C. Wyeth Catalogue Raisonne (2008) online through the Brandywine Museum, The Morris House, Port Clyde, Maine (c. 1937, oil on canvas, Farnsworth Art Museum), http://brandywine.doetech.net/Detlobjps.cfm?ObjectID=1531528&rec_num=1&From=obj_key.cfm#42. Accessed January 16, 2015.
Although this note is tagged %exhibitions pending as of January 2017, I do not see what information was intended to be added to exhibitions, so I am removing the tag so that this content can proceed online.
Catalogue essays specific to object
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Produced- Port Clyde, Maine
Depicted-Port Clyde, Maine
Process/materials
hardboard
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
house
pedestrian
road
rural area
utility pole
walking
mailbox
electric cable
flowers
chimneys
clouds
blue
green
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Until at least 1951: Mrs. N. C. Wyeth
n.d.: ? [1]
Before 1961: C. R. Smith, New York, NY
From 1961: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts [2]
[1] This constituent is listed in the provenance taken from the Brandywine River Museum catalogue raisonne online. No dates are provided.
[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- N.C. Wyeth in Maine~Read this biographical essay adapted from Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth in Maine, A Centenary Exhibition (Rockland, ME: Farnsworth Art Museum, 1982).
- N.C. Wyeth Catalogue Raisonné~Check out the most complete list of the artist's work, hosted by The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
Mayer Library, artist file- contains exhibition and published materials, multiple magazine reviews. Some of these resources would be great to scan, but were not published by the DMA. It would be beneficial to have the artist file cross-referenced (or duplicated) in the registrar's object file.
FUN FACTS
- Wyeth named his Maine residence "Eight Bells" after Winslow Homer's famed image of two fisherman working amidst a frothy, gray sea (Eight Bells, 1886, Addison Gallery of American Art).
- The Road to Jones House was included in N.C. Wyeth's first one-man exhibition at Macbeth Galleries in December 1939 and the art critic Royal Cortissoz (New York Herald Tribune) singled it out as a highlight of the show saying, "It is his precision that ultimately makes his work attractive, the linear delicacy with which he defines his subjects. One of the most engaging examples is The Road by the Jones House, a picture redolent of the American countryside. The telegraph pole in the foreground, the house and the tree just beyond, are drawn with the utmost exactitude, but an air of breath somehow envelopes the composition." (Royal Cortissoz, "N.C. Wyeth," New York Herald Tribune (December 10, 1939) section 6, page 8.)
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1961.118
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
was rewritten from current label for Wyeth, The Hupper Farm, 1960.69 to incorporate new information found in the catalogue raisonné.
Removed TMS object tag because rule exists.
Possibly related to Andrew Wyeth's Jim Smalley, Fisherman? (Object draft- 1938.22 Wyeth, Jim Smalley, Fisherman)
I noticed that the house and trees in the background of this work appears to be very similar to the house shown in Andrew Wyeth's Jim Smalley, Fisherman (1938.22). I did not see any documentation mentioning this in either object file but the father and son would have known the same neighbors and locations around their Maine home.
The N.C. Wyeth Catalogue Raisonne online returned the following painting when I searched for "Smalley." It is dated around the same time as Andrew Wyeth's Jim Smalley, Fisherman and the additional research note (inserted below thumbnail) supports the possibility of overlapping subjects in Andrew Wyeth's early works.
"Andrew Wyeth recalled that the figures in this painting portray neighbors Jim Smalley and Harry Lowell. The scene is along Horse Point Road in Port Clyde, Maine, and as such should be considered a candidate for the painting in the 1938 Utica, NY, exhibition entitled "The Road to Horse Point" (see "Exhibit of Wyeth Paintings Opens At Institute Today," Utica Daily Press, March 12, 1938, p. 14). The present title is descriptive and has no archival authority."
N.C. Wyeth Catalogue Raisonne (2008) online through the Brandywine Museum, The Morris House, Port Clyde, Maine (c. 1937, oil on canvas, Farnsworth Art Museum), http://brandywine.doetech.net/Detlobjps.cfm?ObjectID=1531528&rec_num=1&From=obj_key.cfm#42. Accessed January 16, 2015.
Although this note is tagged %exhibitions pending as of January 2017, I do not see what information was intended to be added to exhibitions, so I am removing the tag so that this content can proceed online.
Catalogue essays specific to object
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Produced- Port Clyde, Maine
Depicted-Port Clyde, Maine
Process/materials
hardboard
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
house
pedestrian
road
rural area
utility pole
walking
mailbox
electric cable
flowers
chimneys
clouds
blue
green
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Until at least 1951: Mrs. N. C. Wyeth
n.d.: ? [1]
Before 1961: C. R. Smith, New York, NY
From 1961: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts [2]
[1] This constituent is listed in the provenance taken from the Brandywine River Museum catalogue raisonne online. No dates are provided.
[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
Fun Facts
- Wyeth named his Maine residence "Eight Bells" after Winslow Homer's famed image of two fisherman working amidst a frothy, gray sea (Eight Bells, 1886, Addison Gallery of American Art).
- The Road to Jones House was included in N.C. Wyeth's first one-man exhibition at Macbeth Galleries in December 1939 and the art critic Royal Cortissoz (New York Herald Tribune) singled it out as a highlight of the show saying, "It is his precision that ultimately makes his work attractive, the linear delicacy with which he defines his subjects. One of the most engaging examples is The Road by the Jones House, a picture redolent of the American countryside. The telegraph pole in the foreground, the house and the tree just beyond, are drawn with the utmost exactitude, but an air of breath somehow envelopes the composition." (Royal Cortissoz, "N.C. Wyeth," New York Herald Tribune (December 10, 1939) section 6, page 8.)
Archival Resources
Mayer Library, artist file- contains exhibition and published materials, multiple magazine reviews. Some of these resources would be great to scan, but were not published by the DMA. It would be beneficial to have the artist file cross-referenced (or duplicated) in the registrar's object file.
Web Resources
- N.C. Wyeth in Maine~Read this biographical essay adapted from Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth in Maine, A Centenary Exhibition (Rockland, ME: Farnsworth Art Museum, 1982).
- N.C. Wyeth Catalogue Raisonné~Check out the most complete list of the artist's work, hosted by The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art.
Notes
This note was tagged #routed in June 2015 and Sue's revisions (in a Word doc created by ASG) have been applied to the note as of October 2015. As of January 2017 I am adding the #draft tag to this note so that it is harvested to Google Drive. Once I am sure that all pending TMS or Piction data entry is complete, I will remove the #routed tag, add the #complete tag, and move the Google Doc to Queta's folder so that it is not re-routed to Sue.
The Brandywine Museum's online catalogue raisonné for N.C. Wyeth gives slightly different information for this work than the metadata currently in TMS record. I revised the date (to 1939) and medium (to egg tempera on hardboard) based on the catalogue raisonné.
I entered provenance, exhibition history, and published resources based on the catalogue raisonné.
SUE WANTS ME TO REVISE TITLES ACCORDING TO THIS IN TMS and ADD FORMER TITLES AS "ALTERNATE TITLES":
I did not revise the title/former titles according to the catalogue raisonné. It uses "The Road to the Jones House," as the primary title. Former titles include: Road to the Jones House, Road to the Jones' House, The Jones House, and The Road by the Jones House.
The catalogue raisonné also lists a related work, "NCW 2194 is a composition drawing with extensive color notations."
There are many more bibliographic and published reference resources available in the object file and the Mayer Library artist file. These do not currently appear in the TMS record. In addition, it would be helpful if the library artist file was cross-referenced (or duplicated) in the primary object file and indicated in the TMS record in some way.
The
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1961.118
source file
object_notes_4_a-0250.xml.nores