Winter Morning
Signed lower left: Andrew Wyeth
Description
Andrew Wyeth’s approach to watercolor is so distinctive that viewers can often spot one of his paintings from across the room. Painted in 1946, Winter Morning was purchased from Boston’s Doll and Richards Gallery by an artist and contemporary of Wyeth, and it has remained in the same family to the present. It was featured in major shows of Wyeth’s work over the next six decades, including 1970’s comprehensive exhibition held at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. The accompanying catalogue contains text pertaining to the inspiration behind certain landscapes, and of Winter Morning is written:
“This is the side of Karl Kuerner’s barn with his house beyond. Kuerners’ hill of ‘Winter 1946’ rises in front. Deer season never ends without Karl shooting his deer. German by birth and frugal by nature, every edible part of this deer will be carefully saved. At Christmas he will give his friend, the artist, a gift of venison.”[1]
[1] McCord, David and Frederick A. Sweet. Andrew Wyeth (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1970), p. 57
Provenance
Inscriptions
Labels
- Doll & Richards, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts / No.: (typed) B 11032 / Artist: (typed) Andrew Wyeth. American (1917- ) / Title: (typed) Winter Morning / Medium: (typed) Watercolor
- Andrew Wyeth Exhibition 1966-1967 / Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts / Baltimore Museum of Art / Whitney Museum of American Art / The Art Institute of Chicago / Title: (typed) Winter Morning 1946 / Cat. No.: (typed) 17 / Lender:(Anonymous) / Address (Anonymous)
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts / Special Loan Exhibition / of / (typed) #5 / Title: (typed) Winter Morning /Artist: (typed) Wyeth / Owner: (Anonymous)
- (typed sticker, unknown source, but likely from the Metropolitan
- Museum of Art 1976 exhibition) SL.76.118.1 / Winter Morning / (Anonymous) (handwritten sticker) “Winter Morning” / by Andrew Wyeth / Owned by – / (Anonymous)
- (typed digital/computer label, unknown source) Winter Morning 1946 / Drybrush / Private Collection
Exhibitions
- *Water Colors by Andrew Wyeth, Doll & Richards Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts, November 18 – December 7, 1946
- *Water Colors by Andrew Wyeth, Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, from February 5, 1948
- *Watercolors by Alexander Bower, Eliot O’Hara, Vladimir Pavlosky, Andrew Wyeth, Doll & Richards Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts, March 15 – March 27, 1948
- Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 1957
- *Wyeth exhibition, Hilson Gallery, Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, Massachusetts, May 5 – June 6, 1957
- Andrew Wyeth: Temperas • Watercolors • Dry Brush • Drawings • 1938 into 1966, An Exhibition Organized by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 8 – November 27, 1966; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, December 13, 1966 – January 22, 1967; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, February 14 – April 2, 1967; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, April 21 – June 4, 1967), no. 17
- Andrew Wyeth, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, July 17 – September 6, 1970, no. 5, illus.
- Andrew Wyeth: Paintings & Drawings, Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School, Concord, New Hampshire, April 4 – May 2, 1971
- Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth: Kuerners and Olsons, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, October 16, 1976 – February 6, 1977, no. 10, illus.
- Wyeth Family Exhibit held at the Sharon Arts Center, Peterborough, New Hampshire, July 25 – August 8, 1977
(*Exhibitions with an asterisk have been gleaned from the Wyeth Catalogue Raisonne’s summary report on the painting)
Literature
Wyeth at Kuerners, by Betsy James Wyeth (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, Co., 1976), illustrated in full color on page 209.
**in addition to the illustrations noted in the above exhibition catalogues
Condition
According to paperwork from the original owner, the watercolor was sent to Dr. Francis Dolloff at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for conservation in 1976. It was treated for specks of mold and the paper was removed from its backing of corrugated cardboard to which it was mounted with fish glue. It was chemically treated and mounted with wheat paste to a Ph neutral support. Recent examination of the painting out of the frame reveals the paper to have general toning, resulting from the effects of light over the past seven decades, and residual staining from the previous cardboard backing that was removed in 1976. There are a few minor tears to the extreme edges covered by the mat and the upper left and lower right corners of the paper are missing. Also, pinholes and notes regarding where to mat the image, perhaps written in the artist’s hard, are found along the margins. Scattered spots of paint found in the negative space of the image and in the margins reflect the artist’s energetic way or working. Photographs of the painting out of the frame are available upon request. It is framed behind museum glass.
Frame Details
Description
Andrew Wyeth’s approach to watercolor is so distinctive that viewers can often spot one of his paintings from across the room. Painted in 1946, Winter Morning was purchased from Boston’s Doll and Richards Gallery by an artist and contemporary of Wyeth, and it has remained in the same family to the present. It was featured in major shows of Wyeth’s work over the next six decades, including 1970’s comprehensive exhibition held at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. The accompanying catalogue contains text pertaining to the inspiration behind certain landscapes, and of Winter Morning is written:
“This is the side of Karl Kuerner’s barn with his house beyond. Kuerners’ hill of ‘Winter 1946’ rises in front. Deer season never ends without Karl shooting his deer. German by birth and frugal by nature, every edible part of this deer will be carefully saved. At Christmas he will give his friend, the artist, a gift of venison.”[1]
[1] McCord, David and Frederick A. Sweet. Andrew Wyeth (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1970), p. 57
Provenance
Inscriptions
Labels
- Doll & Richards, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts / No.: (typed) B 11032 / Artist: (typed) Andrew Wyeth. American (1917- ) / Title: (typed) Winter Morning / Medium: (typed) Watercolor
- Andrew Wyeth Exhibition 1966-1967 / Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts / Baltimore Museum of Art / Whitney Museum of American Art / The Art Institute of Chicago / Title: (typed) Winter Morning 1946 / Cat. No.: (typed) 17 / Lender:(Anonymous) / Address (Anonymous)
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts / Special Loan Exhibition / of / (typed) #5 / Title: (typed) Winter Morning /Artist: (typed) Wyeth / Owner: (Anonymous)
- (typed sticker, unknown source, but likely from the Metropolitan
- Museum of Art 1976 exhibition) SL.76.118.1 / Winter Morning / (Anonymous) (handwritten sticker) “Winter Morning” / by Andrew Wyeth / Owned by – / (Anonymous)
- (typed digital/computer label, unknown source) Winter Morning 1946 / Drybrush / Private Collection
Exhibitions
- *Water Colors by Andrew Wyeth, Doll & Richards Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts, November 18 – December 7, 1946
- *Water Colors by Andrew Wyeth, Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, from February 5, 1948
- *Watercolors by Alexander Bower, Eliot O’Hara, Vladimir Pavlosky, Andrew Wyeth, Doll & Richards Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts, March 15 – March 27, 1948
- Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 1957
- *Wyeth exhibition, Hilson Gallery, Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, Massachusetts, May 5 – June 6, 1957
- Andrew Wyeth: Temperas • Watercolors • Dry Brush • Drawings • 1938 into 1966, An Exhibition Organized by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 8 – November 27, 1966; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, December 13, 1966 – January 22, 1967; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, February 14 – April 2, 1967; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, April 21 – June 4, 1967), no. 17
- Andrew Wyeth, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, July 17 – September 6, 1970, no. 5, illus.
- Andrew Wyeth: Paintings & Drawings, Art Center in Hargate, St. Paul’s School, Concord, New Hampshire, April 4 – May 2, 1971
- Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth: Kuerners and Olsons, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, October 16, 1976 – February 6, 1977, no. 10, illus.
- Wyeth Family Exhibit held at the Sharon Arts Center, Peterborough, New Hampshire, July 25 – August 8, 1977
(*Exhibitions with an asterisk have been gleaned from the Wyeth Catalogue Raisonne’s summary report on the painting)
Literature
Wyeth at Kuerners, by Betsy James Wyeth (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, Co., 1976), illustrated in full color on page 209.
**in addition to the illustrations noted in the above exhibition catalogues
Condition
According to paperwork from the original owner, the watercolor was sent to Dr. Francis Dolloff at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for conservation in 1976. It was treated for specks of mold and the paper was removed from its backing of corrugated cardboard to which it was mounted with fish glue. It was chemically treated and mounted with wheat paste to a Ph neutral support. Recent examination of the painting out of the frame reveals the paper to have general toning, resulting from the effects of light over the past seven decades, and residual staining from the previous cardboard backing that was removed in 1976. There are a few minor tears to the extreme edges covered by the mat and the upper left and lower right corners of the paper are missing. Also, pinholes and notes regarding where to mat the image, perhaps written in the artist’s hard, are found along the margins. Scattered spots of paint found in the negative space of the image and in the margins reflect the artist’s energetic way or working. Photographs of the painting out of the frame are available upon request. It is framed behind museum glass.
