Nov 23, 2021 - Sale 2589

Sale 2589 - Lot 208

Price Realized: $ 6,750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000

NEWELL CONVERS WYETH (1882-1945)

PITTSBURGH IN THE BEGINNING / PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD. 1930.


40 1/2x27 inches, 103x68 1/2 cm.
Condition B+: reattached upper left corner, into text; repaired tears at edges, one into upper image; minor abrasions and restoration in margins; small pin holes in corners.

In the late 1920s, N.C. Wyeth was commissioned to produce four paintings for the Pennsylvania Railroad featuring patriotic themes; these images were used for posters, and subsequently, in 1932, as calendar backs. A student of Howard Pyle, Wyeth was a prolific illustrator whose work appeared in magazines and children's books. Here, in keeping with his style as a children's book illustrator, this image romanticizes the establishment of Fort Prince George, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, between colonists and Native Americans. We can date the poster via its entry in the Library of Congress catalogue of copyright entries from 1930. Pennsylvania Railroad Patriotic Posters, No. 3. Not in Zega.