Hiawatha Fishing

Details

Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945)
Hiawatha Fishing
signed 'N.C. Wyeth' (upper right)
oil on canvas
37 x 26¾ in. (94.0 x 68.0 cm.)
Painted in 1907.

Provenance

Edward C. Robinson, circa 1930.
By bequest to Gertrude True, cousin of the above.
By bequest to Lucy Brown, Hamilton, Montana.
By gift to the present owner.

Literature

D. Allen and D. Allen, Jr., N.C. Wyeth: The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals, New York, 1972, pp. 59, 211, illustrated.
B.J. Wyeth, ed., The Wyeths: The Letters of N.C. Wyeth, 1901-1945, Boston, Massachusetts, 1971, p. 210.

Lot Essay

N.C. Wyeth refers to the present painting in a letter he wrote dated May 17, 1907: "I have lately accepted a commission from Houghton Mifflin to paint a picture of 'Hiawatha Fishing' (from Longfellow's 'Hiawatha'). They wrote to H.P. [Howard Pyle] and he referred them to me. I couldn't help accepting such an opportunity." (as quoted in B.J. Wyeth, The Wyeths: The Letters of N.C. Wyeth, 1901-1945, Boston, Massachusetts, 1971, p. 210.

In addition to the illustration used in the 1908 publication by Houghton Mifflin of The Children's Longfellow, Hiawatha Fishing also appeared as a frontispiece in the 1911 publication of The Song of Hiawatha.

This work is included in the N.C. Wyeth catalogue raisonné database that is being compiled by the Brandywine River Museum and Conservancy, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.

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