If you can get to the N.C. Wyeth exhibit at the Concord Museum by September 18, I think it will be worth your while.
You’re familiar with the family of painters, the Wyeths, right? Best known are Nathaniel C., his son Andrew, and Andrew’s son, Jamie. Perhaps you have been to the Brandywine Museum in Chadd’s Ford, Pennsylvania, which got its start with generations of Wyeth art.
N.C. fell in love with Henry D. Thoreau‘s writing in 1909, made several pilgrimages to Concord, and eventually conceived of a book that he would illustrate , calling it Men of Concord: And Some Others as Portrayed in the Journal of Henry David Thoreau.
The Concord Museum and the Concord Library are each hosting exhibits related to the book, but if you like N.C.’s art, the museum exhibit is the one to see. It’s small but informative and lovely to look at.
N.C. was known for heroic illustrations of classics like Treasure Island, and his characters’ facial expressions and body postures always tell a story. That might be too literal for some art lovers, but I like it. I like the looks on the faces of three men Thoreau described in his journal as “slimy.” I like the watchful, coiled bodies of the muskrat hunters on the river, and the youthful innocence of N.C.’s Thoreau — a quality I have never associated with the writer.
One fanciful painting with bluebirds in a bubble of light like angels over Thoreau’s head seems like hagiography. It’s not my favorite work here, but it’s an intriguing summary of the writer’s interests. And people do make a religion out of Thoreau and Transcendentalism, so maybe it’s not surprising. The whole Concord gang — including Bronson Alcott and Ralph Waldo Emerson — is in the show, minus most of the brilliant women, of course.
One thing I learned was that N.C. had his pencil sketches converted into glass slides, and then he projected them onto the Renaissance board he favored so he could work directly on the enlarged sketch.
More on the museum website.
The hut is a replica of the cabin Thoreau stayed in at Walden Pond and is located on the grounds of the museum.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
I like all the Wyeths a lot–we saw a show a couple years ago in Vermont that include work from all three in three successive rooms and it was fascinating to see these three views of the world–so different but linked in fascinating ways.
That was at the Shelburne, right? I really wanted to get up there for that.
Yes–it was a very nice exhibit and we love Shelburne.
A lovely review of a show that I will appreciate more thanks to your insight and analysis.
Would love to hear what you think of it. And let me know when you come. Perhaps we can connect.
Fascinating! Love the Wyeths, Thoreau, and everything Concord. Thanks for sharing information about the show!
It’s like the town you see out of the train window and you think, “What a pretty town. I wonder what it’s like to live there.” The train was there, and Thoreau could hear it back in the day at his cabin on Walden Pond.