Oct 10 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2681 -

Sale 2681 - Lot 159

Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000

NEWELL CONVERS WYETH (1882-1945)

PITTSBURGH IN THE BEGINNING / PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD. 1930.


41x27¾ inches, 101x70½ cm. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company.
Condition B+: expert overpainting in margins and around text; minor restoration along creases in image.

In the late 1920s, N.C. Wyeth was commissioned to produce twelve paintings for the Pennsylvania Railroad featuring patriotic themes. Only four were ultimately painted before the economic situation in America forced the railroad to cancel the rest of the project. The completed paintings 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.