N. C. Wyeth’s Men of Concord
Through September 18, 2016
Concord Museum, 53 Cambridge Tpk, Concord, MA
For information, call 978.369.9763 or visit www.concordmuseum.org

From Thoreau’s Seasons to Men of Concord: N. C. Wyeth Inspired
Through September 18, 2016
Concord Free Public Library, 129 Main Street, Concord, MA
For information call 978.318.3300 or visit www.concordlibrary.org

Andrew Wyeth (1917–2009), Men of Concord: Emerson and Alcott, 1936. Ink on paper, 3-1/8 x 4-7/8 inches. The Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection. Illustrations from Men of Concord by Henry David Thoreau; ©1936, and renewed 1964 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

N. C. Wyeth, one of the twentieth-century’s most popular illustrators, said that Henry David Thoreau’s writings were, “the springhead for almost every move I can make.” He broadly promoted Thoreau’s ideas at a time when most people remembered Thoreau as simply an amateur naturalist. Wyeth’s culminating effort to honor his personal mentor was the creation of an illustrated book of Thoreau’s journal entries, published in 1936 by Houghton Mifflin as Men of Concord and Some Others, as Portrayed in the Journal of Henry David Thoreau.

N. C. Wyeth (1882–1945), Men of Concord, cover illustration, 1936. Oil on hardboard, 38¾ x 32 inches. Brandywine River Museum of Art, Gift of Amanda K. Berls (1980). Illustrations from Men of Concord by Henry David Thoreau; ©1936, and renewed 1964 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Photographer: Rick Echelmeyer.
N. C. Wyeth (1882–1945), Thoreau and Miss Mary Emerson, 1936. Oil on hardboard, 37¾ x 28¾ inches. Purchased by the Concord Free Public Library from the Samuel Hoar Fund, 1947. Courtesy William Munroe Special Collections, Concord Free Public Library Corporation. Illustrations from Men of Concord by Henry David Thoreau; ©1936, and renewed 1964 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Photographer: Anderson Photography.

Now the twelve large paintings Wyeth created to illustrate Men of Concord are reunited for the first time in nearly eighty years at the Concord Museum’s exhibition, N. C. Wyeth’s Men of Concord.  The show explores Wyeth’s creative process and Thoreau’s influence on his work. In addition to the twelve paintings, the show includes sketches, studies, and additional Thoreau-themed art by Wyeth, plus pen-and-ink drawings by N. C.’s son Andrew Wyeth, which also appeared in Men of Concord. An accompanying exhibition at the Concord Free Public Library, From Thoreau’s Seasons to Men of Concord: N. C. Wyeth Inspired, outlines the decades-long effort by N. C. Wyeth to bring his vision of Thoreau’s philosophy to the public as an illustrated book. These two exhibitions and accompanying catalogues are the result of a landmark joint collaboration between the Concord Museum and the Concord Free Public Library.

J. P. Morgan is lead sponsor for the Concord Museum Show.