N.C. Wyeth Patriotic Paintings of the American Revolution and Civil War

N.C. Wyeth: Patriotic Paintings of the American Revolution and Civil War features 16 paintings by N.C. Wyeth, one of America’s best loved artists and one of its greatest illustrators. The exhibition will display rare, seldom seen oil on canvas paintings by Wyeth depicting immortal moments in American history, from Paul Revere’s ride to patriot war volunteer John Burns at Gettysburg.
N.C. Wyeth: Patriotic Paintings of the American Revolution and Civil War is on exhibit in the Museum’s American Gallery June 26 – September 5, 2004 and is supported in part by grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Regular Museum admission is $7 adults and $5 children 4 to 17. Members and Children under 4 are free. Museum hours are Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday 11am to 5pm, Wednesday 11am to 8pm, and Sunday 12pm to 5pm.

The illustrator of many beloved children’s stories, from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island to Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Wyeth also contributed 17 paintings as illustrations for the book of poetry, Poems of American Patriotism. Wyeth was offered lucrative offers for several individual paintings that appeared in the book, but he turned them down explaining that they should “remain unbroken and be given a worthy setting.”

Wyeth must have considered The Hill School in Pottstown a worthy setting for his paintings, because Michael Sweeny, a former teacher and coach at The Hill School, purchased those seventeen paintings from Wyeth in 1936. Sweeny said at the time he purchased the paintings from Wyeth, “The Hill has done great things for me, I should like to do something for The Hill.” Only 16 paintings remain (one was destroyed in a fire at The Hill School in 1950), and the Reading Public Museum is proud to showcase the paintings that are on loan from The Hill School as a special exhibition celebrating the Museum's 100th Anniversary.

Among the featured paintings in the exhibit are Warren’s Address to his Troops at Bunker Hill, George Washington (Serving Liberty), Oh Captain! My Captain!, and The Doughboy. Born and raised on a Massachusetts farm, Wyeth had his first exposure to art as a student and apprentice at the Massachusetts Normal Arts School. Shortly after, Wyeth moved to Delaware where he worked closely with the noted illustrator Howard Pyle. Pyle served as Wyeth’s mentor and made sure his student found illustration work with publishers. Spending his adult years in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, Wyeth was the progenitor of one of the most famous dynasties in all art history. Three of his five children- Andrew, Carolyn, and Henrietta- all became artists, as well as his son-in law, Peter Hurd, and his grandson, Jamie. Wyeth’s paintings range from landscapes and seascapes to portraits and still lifes. In his lifetime, Wyeth created nearly 4,000 works of art.