N.C. Wyeth: Models

"The Giant" by N.C. Wyeth

"N.C. Wyeth's children were growing up and at every stage of their growth they figured in their father's pictures. Ann recalls posing dutifully while listening impatiently to young Andy's carefree hi-yipping outside the studio windows. When the pose was finished there was the walk with Father down the road to Gallagher's store and the reward of a bag of chocolate mints. The children also furnished the models for 'The Giant,' a large decoration for the Westtown School in nearby Chester County.

Anyone - family, friends, neighbors - might be pressed into service, for professional models were not available in Chadds Ford. Besides, N.C. Usually painted without models, from his abundant pictorial memory and when he felt the need for model reference it was usually for a brief study only. He was a great improvisor and a few hints from a living presence were all he needed - he could change character and proportions at will. Mrs. Wyeth grasping a long rifle could be converted into an unshaven frontiersman with a few flicks of the brush.

The growing children also gave their father an additional excuse for indulging one of his irrepressible passions - for dressing up, playacting - he loved to change his personality under cover of a strange costume. Over the years, the children were treated to a long succession of Kriss Kringles - there was even one that climbed to the chimney on an icy roof and slipped with almost tragic results. Another time N.C. suddenly appeared before his astonished children festooned with glowing strings of tiny electric light bulbs. The love of the pageantry of Christmas seemed to stem from N.C.'s mother and her Swiss forebears. It has left an ingrained impression on succeeding generations of the family - their impulse to dress up can be ignited very easily!"

 To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Brandywine Tradition" by Henry C. Pitz.)