N.C. Wyeth - 4

Wyeth's style and subject matter was all over the place, as seen in the following examples from work he did in Harper's Monthly Magazine. I wonder about his editors at the magazine and what they were thinking. His great talent and technical ability seems often misplaced. Click on images to enlarge.

May 1914, from The Tobacco Famine at Tamarac. The caption reads: "Looking longingly into the gray eyes of Peachy the Unattainable."

May 1916, from monthly installments of Mark Twain's The Mysterious Stranger. "Eseldorf was a paradise for us boys." Was the author's heavy hand the problem with these?

June 1916, from Mark Twain's The Mysterious Stranger. "The lightning blazed out flash upon flash and set the castle on fire."

July 1916, from Mark Twain's The Mysterious Stranger. "On the fourth day comes the astrologer from his crumbling old tower."

August 1916, from Mark Twain's The Mysterious Stranger. "Marget was cheerful by help of Wilhelm Meidling."

September 1916, from Mark Twain's The Mysterious Stranger."The astrologer emptied the whole of the bowl into the bottle." Those are bad faces in a bad layout, clumsily rendered.

October 1916, from Mark Twain's The Mysterious Stranger. "There was sound of tramping outside and the crowd came solemnly in."

July 1916, from Mark Twain's The Mysterious Stranger. "Life itself is only a vision, a dream."

November 1911, and so much better. From Growing Up by Gouveneur Morris. "The children were playing at marriage-by-capture."

November 1911. From Growing Up by Gouveneur Morris. "Nothing would escape their black, jewel-like, inscrutable eyes."

From December 1913, the following two examples done in a serious, painterly style and with captions set in black letter gothic.

"Come live with us for I think thou are chosen."

"Whe He comes He will rule over the whole world."

Comments

[Dave Davis]

Hi. Thank you for your post. I am also looking at the Mysterious Stranger (1916) but in another context. Can you explain more about what you meant by "Was the author's heavy hand the problem with these?"

Thanks.

/DDD

[giam]

Thanks, Oliver. You should check out his stuff at the Brandywine River Museum at Chadds Ford PA and just down the road in Wilmington DE at the Delaware Art Museum. Lots of Howard Pyle and others. All the best, Paul

[Oliver Christianson]

Paul, these are wonderful.