Newell Convers Wyeth Sold at Auction Prices

Painter, Illustrator

(b Needham, Massachusetts 1882; d Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania 1945) American Painter and Illustrator. Born in Needham, Massachusetts in 1882, N.C. Wyeth began studying art at a young age. His mother encouraged him to enroll in several art schools--The Mechanics Art School in Boston, Massachusetts, The Normal Arts School and the Eric Pape School of Art in Boston--before being accepted in 1902 into Howard Pyle's School of Illustration in Wilmington, Delaware. After only one and a half years of Pyle's instruction, Wyeth's work began to appear in national magazines such as Collier's, Harpers, Scribner's and others. His first published illustration (of a bronco and rider) appeared on the February 1903 cover of The Saturday Evening Post. Wyeth went on to produce illustrations for renowned books such as the Scribner Illustration Classics, as well as advertisements and illustrations for the notable publications The Saturday Evening Post, Harper's, Scribner's, Collier's, Century, Outing, Ladies Home Journal, All Around Magazine and Popular Magazine. Wyeth's illustrations were in such demand that he was able to command top prices and select the commissions of his own choosing. (Credit: Christie’s, New York, Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, December 4, 2008, lot 126)