N.C. Wyeth's Home & Studio in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania

N.C. Wyeth's House & Studio

The artist purchased 18 acres of land in Chadds Ford in 1911 with proceeds from his Illustrations of Treasure Island.  Here is the house and Art Studio. It was designated a National Historic Site in 1997.  

The spacious Living Room

The Dining Room &

Side Board

Before entering the Studio, it's important to get to know the artist.

Newell Convers "N.C." Wyeth was born on October 22, 1882, in Needham, Massachusetts, and developed a deep love of nature.  His father wanted him to pursue a career that focused on practical skills.  Acceding to his father's wishes, N.C. attended Mechanics Arts School in Boston to take Drafting Classes in 1899.  With his mother's encouragement, N.C.. he later transferred to Massachusetts Normal Art School.  Instructor William Andrew encouraged the young man to consider Illustration.  N.C. studied with Eric Pape and Charles W. Reed before painting with George L. Noyes.

Friends encouraged the young artist to travel to Wilmington, Delaware to study at the Howard Pyle School of Art.  Pyle influenced him greatly and N.C. Wyeth's skills.  

In 1906 he married Carolyn Brenneman Boikus.  

N.C.'s artwork earned him a contract with Charles Scribner Sons Publishers to illustrate Treasure Island, published in 1911. 

This is a copy of Funeral Island.

It is painted in the modern style.

N.C. Wyeth used a slide

projector in his work.

The Senior Wyeth had windows

installed to allow him to work

in natural lighting.

N.C. continued to illustrate books for Scribners.  Among the most famous titles are:  Kidnapped (1913), Last of the Mohicans (1919), and The Yearling (1939).

He illustrated Robin Hood for David McKay (1917), Robinson Crusoe for Cosmopolitan (1920), Rip Van Winkle for David McKay (1921). Men of Concord for Houghton Mifflin (1936), and Trending into Maine for Little, Brown (1938).

His desk & work

coveralls.

They are heavily

splattered with

paint.

N.C. Wyeth also enjoyed success as a muralist.  In 1940 he created two Civil War battle scenes for the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City; the Federal Reserve Bank and the First National Bank in n Boston; the Roosevelt Hotel and the Franklin Savings Bank in New York City; the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C., and other commissions.  Most of the murals still exist, but are no longer in their original sites.

A palate & artist tools

sit on a wooden

drafting table.

The Palate has old paint on it.  N.C.'s notes:

Do Not Use 

 October -- 18 -- 1945

_CiL___yeth

Chadds Ford, Pa.

The Senior Wyeth also illustrated ads for Aunt Jemima, Coca-Cola, General Electric, Steinway and Sons, and other products.  He also provided illustrations for calendars and posters for New York Life Insurance, Morrell and Company, and the Pennsylvania Railroad.  During World War II, N.C. contributed patriotic images to Government Agencies and The Red Cross.

A Still Life of a Jug,

 a Brown Bottle &

a Blue & White Cup

A Birch Bark Canoe sits

against one wall of this

large space.

A photo of N.C. & a 

painting of a Naval

Ship

This stairway on wheels was

moved as necessary when

the artist painted oversized

works.

A better shot of the 

painting next to the

stairway.

Details were important to N.C. Wyeth's artwork:

One of his Prop Rooms

A Western Saddle,

frames for his Art,

& more props

The Rifle Collection

The view of the Studio's

largest window.

N.C. Wyeth died on October 19,1945.  His car was hit by a freight train at a railroad crossing in Chadds Ford.