N. C. Wyeth was an American painter noted for his illustrations of classic novels, painted in a realistic style. Over the years he produced over 3,000 paintings for some 112 books. He illustrated 25 of the Scribner Classics line, including the debut novel Treasure Island, which were best-sellers
Newell Convers Wyeth was born in Needham, Massachusetts, on 22
October 1882, his talent for art encouraged by his mother, who was acquainted with literary giants of the day, Henry David Thoreau and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. By the age of 12, Wyeth was painting superb watercolours. He attended the Mechanics Arts School, the Massachusetts
Normal Arts School, and the Eric Paper School of Art. At the latter he
learned illustration under George Loftus Noves and Charles W. Reed.
Wyeth was accepted at Howard Pyle’s School of Art in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1902 where his
exuberant personality and talent made him a standout student. Pyle is
considered the father of American illustration and emphasised visiting
historical sites and the use of props and costumes, designed to
stimulate the imagination as well as make the action and costumes appear
authentic.
Wyeth’s first professional commission – a bucking bronco – appeared on the cover of Saturday Evening Post on 21 February 1903. When the paper commissioned him to illustrated a Western story, Pyle urged Wyeth to head
out to the Wild West. In Colorado, Wyeth worked alongside professional
cowboys, doing chores around the ranch and rounding up cattle. He
visited Native American sites and worked as a mail courier after his
money was stolen. A second trip two years later resulted in the
beginnings of a collection of authentic artefacts.
Wyeth's famous illustrations to the classics included Treasure Island (1911), Kidnapped (1913), Robin Hood (1917), The Last of the Mohicans (1919), Robinson Crusoe (1920), Rip Van Winkle (1921), The White Company (1922) and The Yearling (1939). His illustrations also included paintings of rural life, book
illustrations that encompassed countless topics and magazine
illustrations for periodicals, including Century, Harper’s, Ladies Home Journal, McClure’s, Outing, The Popular Magazine and Scribner’s.
He also drew posters, calendars and advertising for clients including
Lucky Strike and Coca-Cola, and painted murals and portraits.
His enormous success did not make him particularly happy and he
complained bitterly about the commercialism on which he was dependent,
yet it allowed him to buy an old captain’s house in Port Clyde, Maine,
in the 1930s where he took his family for holidays and where he painted
seascapes. In 1941 he was elected to the National Academy.
He was married to Carolyn Bockius and settled in Chadds Ford,
Pennsylvania, in 1908. The couple had five children, four of whom – Henrietta Wyeth Hurd (1907-1997), Carolyn Wyeth (1909-1994), Ann Wyeth McCoy (1915-2005) and Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) – went
on to become artists; another son, Nathaniel C. Wyeth (1911-1990), was
the inventor of the plastic bottles commonly used for drinks.
Wyeth's life ended in tragedy on 19 October 1945, aged 62. It was his habit to take his 3-year-old grandson, Newell (the son of his youngest child, Nathaniel), on his morning errands and the two were together in Wyeth's Ford Station Wagon when it stalled on a railway crossing. They were both killed instantly when the car was struck by a freight train.
Examples of N. C. Wyeth's artwork can be found for sale at the Illustration Art Gallery.
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