Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 12

Newell Convers Wyeth
Summer. "Hush"

1909

About the Item

"Summer. "Hush"" is a painting by American artist N.C. Wyeth. It is an oil on canvas work and is signed lower right, “NC WYETH” and inscribed lower left, “Inscribed to Clara and Edwin on their wedding day Dec 25, 1913”. Provenance: Mr. and Mrs. Edwin R. Wyeth, 1913 Mrs. Edwin Wyeth, to 1988 (Judy Goffman Fine Art, New York, NY, May 1991) Collection of John Edward Dell, to August 1995 Private collection, New York, to 2008 [Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, Deleware, April 2008] Exhibition: Philadelphia, PA, 1910, no. 798 on p. 51, as "Summer" Chadds Ford, PA, 1972, no. 12; Greenville, DE, 1995 Greenville, DE, Somerville Manning Gallery, "N. C. Wyeth: Painter and Illustrator," June 14-Sept. 14, 2019 Literature: Betsy James Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths, The Letters of N. C. Wyeth, 1901-1945 (Boston: Gambit, 1971), ps. 312, 313 Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth, The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals (New York: Crown Publishers, 1972), p. 275, illustration in b/w p. 62 John Edward Dell, ed., Visions of Adventure, N. C. Wyeth and the Brandywine Artists (New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2000), illustration in color p. 64 Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth, A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings (London: Scala, 2008), I.284, p. 200 Emerging at the end of the Gilded Age, N.C. Wyeth was one of the most important American artists and illustrators. His paintings and illustrations brought life to classic literature from Treasure Island to The Boy’s King Arthur and more. He is most remembered for his ability to capture crucial moments in narratives, fleshing out just a few words into a visual representation of deep drama and tension. Patriarch of the Wyeth artistic dynasty which includes his son Andrew and grandson Jamie, his influence touched future illustrators and artists. Perhaps his most important legacy is how he shaped American imagination – of America itself and of wild possibilities. Wyeth’s powerful paintings gave life to many of the stories America told of itself. His early paintings captured life of the American West and some of his most beloved illustrations were for novels such as The Last of the Mohicans or short stories like “Rip Van Winkle”. Despite this success, Wyeth struggled with the commercialism of illustrations and advertisements, seeking his work to be accepted as fine art. Throughout his career, he experimented with different styles shifting from Impressionism to Divisionism to Regionalism. N.C. Wyeth produced over 3,000 paintings and illustrated 112 books. His illustrations for the publisher Charles Scribner’s Sons were so popular they became known as Scribner’s Classics and remain in print to this day. This quietly powerful painting of a Native American forms part of a quartet of paintings, inspired by and a metaphor for the four seasons. The paintings were used to illustrate George T. Marsh’s set of poems “The Moods”. Wyeth recognized that the series came at a crucial moment in his career in which the paintings go beyond realism to capture atmosphere and mood, an internal world of emotion made external. He even contemplated and attempted to write his own poems based on these paintings. Summer, Hush is a striking example of Wyeth pulling from his imagination and melding it with careful observation of nature. As noted in a letter to his mother, Wyeth combined the fictional subject with natural effects as in the sky. Native Americans were a subject he returned to numerous times; these paintings reflect not only Wyeth’s fascination but also of America. As observed by art historian Krstine Ronan, Wyeth was part of a larger dialogue that developed around Native Americans, cementing a general Native American culture in the imagination of the United States. Thus, the painting operates on numerous levels simultaneously. How do we relate to this painting and its conception of the four seasons? How do we interpret Wyeth’s depiction of a Native American? What role do Native American’s play in America’s imagination? We must also not forget that these works were first used to illustrate the poems of George T. Marsh. Marsh, a poet born in New York that often also wrote of the Canadian wilderness, provides subtle evocations of the seasons hinted at in the series title “The Moods”. This painting was used alongside “Hush” which ends: Are they runes of summers perished That the fisher hears –and ceases— Or the voice of one he cherished. Within these few lines, Wyeth gives us a thoughtful and restrained painting that stirs from within. The poem and the painting avoid obvious clichés to represent the seasons. They develop a profound interpretation filled with sensitivity. These paintings were important to Wyeth who hoped that “they may suggest to some architect the idea that such decorations would be appropriate in a library or capitol or some public building.” Summer, Hush demonstrates Wyeth’s control of color and composition so that small touches such as the ripples of water or the towering cloud that envelopes the figure are in service to sketch out the feeling of summer and of the poem. Through exploring this rich and complex painting we are better able to appreciate NC Wyeth as an artist and the role in which his work both in general and this specific painting plays in the context of art history.
More From This SellerView All
  • Scouting
    By Frank Tenney Johnson
    Located in Palm Desert, CA
    "Scouting" is an oil on canvas painting by Frank Tenney Johnson. The framed piece measures 23 3/4 x 27 3/4 x 3 1/4 inches. Johnson was well-known for his work of the American west, particularly for his portrayal of cowboys at night, lit by moonlight. Johnson utilized knives and fingers when painting, so his work is recognizable for its distinctive marks. Provenance: Biltmore Galleries, Scottsdale...
    Category

    Early 20th Century American Realist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

    Scouting

    Frank Tenney Johnson
    Scouting

  • Puritan Cod Fishers
    Located in Palm Desert, CA
    A painting by father and son N.C. Wyeth and Andrew Wyeth. "Puritan Cod Fishers" is a 20th century painting from N.C. Wyeth's commission of murals for the Metropolitan Life Insurance...
    Category

    20th Century American Realist Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

    Puritan Cod Fishers

    Andrew Wyeth and N.C. Wyeth
    Puritan Cod Fishers, 1947

  • The Young Artist
    By Grant Wood
    Located in Palm Desert, CA
    "The Young Artist" is an oil on panel painting made in 1926 by Grant Wood. The work is signed lower right, "Grant Wood". The painting size is 11 x 14 x 1 inches. The framed size is 2...
    Category

    Early 20th Century American Realist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Panel

    The Young Artist

    Grant Wood
    The Young Artist, 1926

  • Navajo Camp
    By Gerard Curtis Delano
    Located in Palm Desert, CA
    "Navajo Camp" is an oil on panel painting by Gerard Curtis Delano. The painting is signed lower left "Delano". The framed piece measures 31 x 36 3/4 x 1 7/8 inches. Delano was a pai...
    Category

    Early 20th Century American Realist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Panel

    Navajo Camp

    Gerard Curtis Delano
    Navajo Camp

  • State Power
    By Leonid Lamm
    Located in Palm Desert, CA
    An oil on canvas painting by contemporary artist Leonid Lamm. "State Power" is an abstracted work executed in greens, yellows and reds and depicts an abstracted, mask like face abov...
    Category

    1980s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

    State Power

    Leonid Lamm
    State Power, 1987

  • Bimbam
    By Carlos Luna
    Located in Palm Desert, CA
    An oil on canvas executed in saturated and bright reds, orange, black and white, Bimbam, by Latin American artist Carlos Luna, depicts the face of a man wearing a hat and looking out...
    Category

    Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

    Bimbam

    Carlos Luna
    Bimbam, 2009

You May Also Like

Recently Viewed

View All

More Ways To Browse

N C
Antique Summer
Painting Of Summer Day
American Advertisement
Summer Cloud
Summer Clouds
Wyeth A
Andrew Early
Antique Poem
Antique Poems
Summer Classic
American Gilded Age
Native American Story
Antique Shifter
Antique Water Colour Painting
Summer Four Seasons
Wyeth Andrew
Canadian Native Artist
View All Popular Figurative Paintings Searches