N.C. Wyeth's Studio

By Stephen May

CHADDS FORD, PENN. - As part of the celebration of its 25th anniversary this year, the Brandywine River Museum has opened the recently restored studio of one of America's greatest illustrators, N.C. Wyeth.

Built in 1911 at the top of a hill overlooking a peaceful valley, the historic studio's north windows still command what the artist called "the most glorious sight in this township." Later additions provided space for mural painting and for launching the creativity of succeeding generations of Wyeth artists.

Following the death several years ago of N.C. Wyeth's daughter, Carolyn, a painter who had occupied the studio and nearby house for a half century, the site was given to the museum by N.C.'s son, Andrew, and grandson, Jamie, both celebrated artists. Since then the studio has been restored to the way it looked in the famed illustrator's heyday, replete with artifacts and equipment he used in his work. The brick house in which the large Wyeth clan was raised, just down the hill from the studio, will be opened for public tours in the future.

A visit to this serene site, as well as the nearby museum, offers a feast for the eyes and balm for the soul. It is easy to appreciate why this place held such appeal for patriarch Wyeth and his talented descendants.

N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945) was a Yankee transplant to the Brandywine Valley. Raised on a farm in Needham, Mass., near Walden Pond, he developed an early love of the outdoors and nature, as well as of romantic literature and art. His supportive mother, Henriette Zirngiebel, encouraged his artistic talent and urged him to become an artist. His practical father, Andrew Newell Wyeth, suggested he employ his gifts in drafting rather than as a painter.

As a compromise, young Wyeth studied drafting and then illustration in Boston. In 1902 he enrolled in classes conducted by master illustrator Howard Pyle in Wilmington, Del., and Chadds Ford, Penn., a few miles away. The father of American illustration and a demanding teacher, Pyle stressed both knowledge of things portrayed and dramatic compositions. During a teaching career that lasted only 15 years, Pyle trained scores of students, a number of whom became major participants in the golden age of American illustration.

Flourishing under Pyle's tutelage, the youthful Wyeth soon found work as a magazine and book illustrator. By the end of his prolific career he completed over 3,000 works, including illustrations for more than 100 books.

Early success as an illustrator of the American West, which Wyeth had never seen, led him to undertake an adventurous tour of Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico in 1904. While working as a ranch hand and overland mail carrier, the 22-year-old completed numerous sketches of Indians, cowboys and other scenes that he utilized in a lifetime of depictions of the Wild West.

Wyeth next fell in love with the pastoral Middle Atlantic area as a subject for landscapes, about the time he and his bride, the former Carolyn Bockius, settled in the historic and picturesque Brandywine Valley. He was profoundly moved by the beauty and tranquility of the region around the old village of Chadds Ford. Before long the up-and-coming artist built a solid brick house and, just up the hill, a studio overlooking the verdant landscape. He regarded it as an ideal place in which to paint and raise a family.

The family over which the exuberant and loving father presided eventually comprised five talented children: Henriette (Hurd), Carolyn and Andrew, who became painters, Nathaniel, an engineer and inventor, and Ann (McCoy), a composer and artist. In the early 1930s the Wyeths acquired an old sea captain's home in Port Clyde, Maine, naming their summer home "Eight Bells," after the Winslow Homer painting of the same name. Today, Andrew, his son Jamie, and Ann McCoy maintain homes/studios in the mid-coastal Maine area.

A highly successful well-paid illustrator, N.C. Wyeth's works were bravura performances, filled with gripping action, animated figures and accurate details. But he longed for a less restrictive life as a fine artist, and over the years executed a number of accomplished easel paintings. They included landscapes, family portraits and still lifes.

In addition to his continuing work on non-illustrative landscapes and other oils, in the 1930s, Wyeth began painting large-scale murals. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company commissioned him to do murals based on the American pilgrim experience and how it related to his ancestry. Tragically, he never completed it.

In October 1945, N.C. Wyeth and a grandson were killed when their car stalled at a Chadds Ford railroad crossing and was struck by a passing train. Wyeth's son Andrew and son-in-law John McCoy finished the last work of N.C.'s career.

Visiting his studio is bound to become a popular pilgrimage for many who grew up entranced by N.C. Wyeth's illustrations. A stickler for accuracy and detail, he filled the place with props and decorative objects for use in composing pictures. The full range of his interests and the tools he employed are readily apparent when you tour the commodious space.

Carolyn, who both painted and taught art classes on the premises, changed few things from her father's time, so the place has remained in a kind of time warp since 1945. Rather than refurbishing it to a pristine appearance, the museum maintains it today much as it looked when N.C. Wyeth worked in it so productively.

"He moved things around a lot," said Brandywine assistant curator Christine B. Podmaniczky, an N.C. Wyeth authority, "so there was no fixed position" for many of the objects. She and others involved in the restoration relied on photographs and family memories in organizing the studio.

Arrayed around the original main studio are artifacts and pictures, which immediately conjure up memories for all who have enjoyed Wyeth's colorful, action-filled images. A spinning wheel and warming pan flank the large stone fireplace, high above which is suspended a birch-bark canoe.

Among the antique furnishings are a rocking chair and tall writing desk. On one wall is a reproduction of an N.C. Wyeth self-portrait, jaunty in a top hat, flanked by portraits he painted of his beloved parents.

Costumes and military uniforms and busts of historical figures recall the artist's love of dressing up and of history. "This studio was N.C. Wyeth," said grandson Jamie, who was born the year after his grandfather died. "For a child, it was a magical place," he recalled.

Testimony to the artist's commitment to reading and learning - and the wide range of his interests - are hundreds of books that line bookcases and shelves on all sides. There are 20 volumes of the writings of Henry David Thoreau, one of Wyeth's heroes.

Every issue of the National Geographic that appeared during Wyeth's lifetime is neatly laid out in flat piles on a bookshelf. There are copies of Harper's Magazine and other periodicals, from which he gleaned ideas.

A paint-spattered smock and palette, a plaster bust of George Washington wearing a real, black tri-corner hat, and an unfinished canvas on an easel, suggest that the artist might return at any moment. Indeed, the unfinished painting is "First Farmer of the Land," which Wyeth was working on for Country Gentleman magazine when he was killed. The palette is dated the day before, "October 18, 1945."

In the lofty mural studio, added in 1923, one can still mount 25-foot-high stairs to reach a squared-off mural canvas, waiting to be painted. Hanging floor-to-ceiling in a storage room off the main studio are old farm implements, pots and pans, saddles, canoe paddles, and even a human skull - each undoubtedly a prop in one or more Wyeth painting.

Outside, the apple orchard above the house has been restored and, below it, scrub trees obscuring the old valley view have been removed. The sense of rural peace and quiet is palpable.

A short distance away, the museum itself is a magical place, just about perfect for the artwork it houses. The grey stone gristmill, which dates to 1864 and was known as Hoffman's Mill, was deftly transformed in 1971 to a museum in harmony with the landscape, history and culture of its site.

The museum is part of the Brandywine Conservancy, founded in 1967 to protect and preserve the region's natural resources, open spaces and historic sites. Four years later, the organization broadened its mission with the establishment of the museum, dedicated to perpetuating the area's unique artistic heritage. Since its opening, more than 2,000 works of American art have been acquired by the museum.

Today, the Brandywine River Museum is home to the largest and most comprehensive collection of works by N.C., Andrew and Jamie Wyeth, as well as paintings by Carolyn Wyeth and Henriette Wyeth Hurd as well as by Peter Hurd and John McCoy, N.C. Wyeth students who became sons-in-law. There are also displays showcasing the artwork of the region and American illustrators who worked in the tradition of Howard Pyle. Special exhibitions throughout the year feature works loaned by other institutions.

Andrew Wyeth's art, a major focus of the museum, reflects the Chadds Ford native's appreciation for the nature and people of the Brandywine Valley as well as the Maine coast.

In a beautiful pencil-on-paper work, "N. C. Wyeth in His Studio," (1941) 24-year-old Andrew depicted his father hard at work at his easel. "My Father's Studio" (1940) is a deft, minimalist watercolor of the building's facade in winter. Andrew's celebrated 1984 watercolor, "North Light," another wintry view of his father's studio, was recently given to the museum by the artist and his wife.

The museum owns a number of expansive landscapes by such Nineteenth Century artists as Thomas Doughty, William Trost Richards and Jasper Cropsey, which capture the distinctive beauty of the Brandywine Valley. Cropsey's "Autumn on the Brandywine River" (circa 1887) is a standout. Also associated with the region is still life painting, represented in works by William M. Harnett, John Haberle, John F. Peto and George Cope.

Women artists are represented throughout the galleries, with works by the likes of Jessie Wilcox Smith, Alice Barber Stephens, and members of the Wyeth clan. One of the most intriguing works in the entire museum is "Saying Prayers" (circa 1943) by severely disabled World War I veteran Horace Pippin, who lived in nearby West Chester.

Another strength of the collection is American illustration. More than a thousand works by hundreds of illustrators demonstrate the importance of this often overlooked art form to our artistic and social heritage. Accomplished pictures by F.O.C. Darley, Charles Dana Gibson and Maxfield Parrish suggest the imagination and skill required to excel in this field.

The attractive Brandywine River Museum and its outstanding trove of American art, now augmented by the N.C. Wyeth Studio, make Chadds Ford a "must" destination for art lovers. A visit there serves as a reminder of why this picturesque, tranquil corner of the world has stimulated the extraordinary creativity of three generations of gifted Wyeths - and many other artists.

The N.C. Wyeth Studio is open for tours through October 31, Wednesday through Sunday, 10 am to 3 pm. Tours originate at the Brandywine River Museum on US Route 1, Chadds Ford, where tickets must be purchased. A shuttle bus leaves for the studio at approximately 45 minute intervals. Telephone 610/388-2700.