WYETH ANDREW Autograph Letter Signed A to painter Leon Kroll

Sale 2699 - Lot 138

Price Realized: $ 406

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900

WYETH, ANDREW. Autograph Letter Signed, "A," to painter Leon Kroll ("Dear Leon"), admiring the design of his mural for the State of Indiana and, in a postscript, "I gave Betsy [Wyeth's wife] both parts." 1 page, 4to, personal stationery; few short closed tears at side edges, horizontal folds. Chadds Ford, 11 January 1953

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"I want you to know what a real lift I got out of seeing your mural for the State of Indiana. What a rare thing it is these days to see a really well designed decoration such as yours."
Kroll's 3-panel mural in the Senate chamber of the Indiana Statehouse, installed in 1952 for the Abbey Memorial Foundation, was soon after threatened with removal because of alleged connections between Kroll and subversive organizations. Some visitors saw politically dangerous symbols in the paintings, such as a hammer (used by a Hoosier laborer) or a red bird (a cardinal, the State bird). The mural withstood the threats of the 1950s Red Scare, but it was destroyed during a renovation project in the 1970s.