#000091
N.C. Wyeth: The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals
Douglas Allen & Douglas Allen Jr.
This is the standard reference on N. C. Wyeth, the American illustrator whose swashbuckling paintings for editions of Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and The Last of the Mohicans shaped how generations of readers pictured adventure. Compiled by Douglas Allen and his son and published by Crown in 1972, it gathers more than three hundred color and black-and-white reproductions alongside an exhaustive bibliography that the compilers spent a decade assembling. Wyeth was the pupil of Howard Pyle and the patriarch of a remarkable artistic dynasty, and the book takes his commercial work seriously as art without apology. For anyone drawn to golden-age illustration, or curious how a jobbing magazine artist became a national storyteller in paint, it remains the first place to look and a genuine pleasure simply to leaf through.
more…less ▴
The authors
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen Jr. were devoted Wyeth scholars rather than academic art historians, and the difference shows in the best way. Their labor of love took ten years to compile, chasing down every book jacket, calendar, poster, and magazine cover the artist touched. The result carries a foreword by the novelist Paul Horgan, who knew the Wyeth world firsthand.
The book
Published by Crown in 1972, this is a generously illustrated survey of N. C. Wyeth's paintings, murals, and above all his illustrations, backed by a bibliography so thorough it became a reference in its own right. More than three hundred reproductions trace the arc from Pyle-trained apprentice to the most recognizable American illustrator of his era. A signed deluxe edition of 249 copies was also issued.
How it has aged
Decades of Wyeth scholarship have followed, but this volume still anchors them. Color fidelity in the 1972 printing is dated by modern standards, yet the sheer completeness has never been superseded, and it remains the book collectors reach for first.
For more context
Wyeth sits at the head of a dynasty that runs through his son Andrew to grandson Jamie, and his roots trace back to Howard Pyle and the Brandywine School of illustration.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Douglas Allen & Douglas Allen Jr.
- Publisher
- Crown Publishers
- Place of publication
- New York
- Year
- 1972
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Art
- Location
- Maine