Displaying items by tag: N.C. Wyeth

A pair of stolen N.C. Wyeth paintings worth up to $500,000 apiece have been recovered and will be displayed in Maine along with four other stolen paintings recouped nearly a year ago in California, officials said Thursday.

The two paintings were recovered last month when a third party surrendered them to a retired FBI agent in the Boston area, Harold Shaw, special agent in charge of the bureau's Boston field office, told reporters at the Portland Museum of Art, where the paintings were on display.

A rare giant of an exhibition will be on view at the Chester County Art Association.

Seventeen seldom-seen N.C. Wyeth paintings will be displayed Oct. 10-18 in the Art Association’s newly renovated Allinson Gallery as part of its Founders Exhibition and 84th anniversary celebration.

The FBI and Portland police on Tuesday announced a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to the recovery of two paintings by N.C. Wyeth stolen from Portland developer and art collector Joseph Soley in May 2013.

Police Chief Michael Sauschuck traveled to the Boston FBI office to join Vincent B. Lisi, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston division, to make the announcement. It comes a month after a New Hampshire man was convicted of illegally transporting four other N.C. Wyeth paintings stolen from Soley at the same time. Two other men have been convicted of possessing those stolen works.

A New Hampshire man who admitted transporting five stolen N.C. Wyeth oil paintings to California, where four of them were sold to a high-end pawn shop for $100,000, is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

Lawrence Estrella, 65, of Manchester, New Hampshire, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to interstate transportation of stolen property in April. Estrella was arrested Nov. 23, 2014, in Los Angeles by FBI agents, according to court documents.

The Wyeths have become something of a dynasty in American art, which began with N.C. Wyeth, who was known primarily as an illustrator for magazines and books. The family commitment continued with his son Andrew, who clung to the tradition of realism at a time when modernism reigned and he was often criticized for being out of synch with the mainstream. Jamie, son and grandson, has never wavered from representing the real world, although he has created a more vigorous approach to painting.

George Bellows, Robert Henri, Marsden Hartley, Rockwell Kent, John Marin, Louise Nevelson and N.C., Andrew and Jamie Wyeth. All lived or worked in Maine.

And all are represented in the 45 paintings, sculptures and assemblages in "American Treasures from the Farnsworth Art Museum" at The Society of the Four Arts. The Farnsworth, situated in Rockland, Maine, focuses on the state’s role in American art — the extent to which might surprise some viewers.

The painting, "Public Health and Morale" (circa 1943) depicts an idealized American family against a backdrop of busy wartime factories, with a squadron of military airplanes over head. It is one of two commissioned by E.R. Squibb and Sons (now Bristol-Myers Squibb). The other painting, "The American Mother" (1941), was given to the Brandywine River Museum of Art by the company in 1977. The paintings were commissioned for use as advertising window displays, and were also used in internal publications.

“We are pleased that 'Public Health and Morale' will become part of the museum’s permanent N.C. Wyeth collection so that those who are inspired by the work of N.C. Wyeth, his son Andrew, and grandson Jamie, can enjoy this work for years to come,” said John Elicker, senior vice president, Public Affairs and Investor Relations, Bristol-Myers Squibb.

The Reading Public Museum announced that now through the end of August 2014, it will display N. C. Wyeth’s Pyle’s Barn, an exceptional oil on canvas from 1917 by the renowned Brandywine Valley artist and illustrator. The painting is on loan from the Brandywine River Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania as part of an exchange with the institution. The Reading Public Museum’s own N. C. Wyeth, Buttonwood Farm, 1920, will be on view at the Brandywine River Museum of Art through August 10, featured in a temporary exhibition titled Lure of the Brandywine: A Story of Land Conservation and Artistic Inspiration.

The inspiration for this painting came about when N. C. Wyeth (1882-1945) and his wife, Carolyn, rented property in Chadds Ford that included Pyle’s Barn. The structure, located on the south side of the main road through Chadds Ford (now U.S. Route 1) just east of the village, became one of Wyeth's favorite motifs, even after the family moved to another property in 1911. He painted the barn at least six times, in daylight and moonlight, using a variety of impressionistic styles. In the painting, he laid down small strokes of unmixed color, taking advantage of the eye's tendency to blend colors. The technique was derived from Wyeth’s study of the work of the Swiss-Italian artist Giovanni Segantini (1858-1899), whose paintings he admired greatly.

This summer the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston will host Jamie Wyeth's first career retrospective.
 
Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946) -- born into one of the strongest family of artists in history with Andrew Wyeth (1917-2000) as his father and illustrator great N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945) as his grandfather -- has always led a quieter, more behind-the-scenes life as a painter. Now, as he is a mere two years away from 70, he is reflecting on almost six decades of artistic production and allowing one of the top museums in the country to organize his first career retrospective. The Museum of Fine Arts Boston is working busily to finish this highly anticipated exhibition -- titled "Jamie Wyeth," on view from July 16 through December 28, 2014 -- which will include approximately 100 paintings, works on paper, illustrations, and assemblages in a variety of individual and combined media.

On November 3, 2013 the High Museum of Art in Atlanta will present the exhibition Go West! Art of the American Frontier from the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Through more than 250 paintings, sculptures, photographs and Native American artifacts, the show will explore the changing notion of the American West, which evolved considerably between 1830 and 1930. The exhibition also addresses the varied and oftentimes conflicting representations of Native Americans, which ranged from portrayals of fierce warriors to menacing enemies.

The works included in Go West! Are on loan from the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, a museum and cultural center in Cody, Wyoming. Highlights include a bronze sculpture by Frederic Remington, illustrations by N.C. Wyeth created during his time as a ranch-hand, and Annie Oakley’s rifle.

Go West! will be on view at the High Museum through April 3, 2014.