The illustrations in my grandmother's copy of The Yearling were my introduction to the luminous work of N.C. Wyeth. I loved them because they were true to the bits of Old Florida still to be seen the early Fifties -- the tall pines, the tannin tinted rivers, the palmetto scrub.
N.C. Wyeth's illustrations defined many a book for me and others of my generations -- the courtly knights of The Boy's Book of King Arthur . . .
or the resourceful Robinson Crusoe . . .
Or Treasure Island's Blind Pew, tapping his sightless way through the night to leave the Black Spot (and scare the bejeezus out of the reader) . . .
Or the gallant Robin Hood, on his deathbed . . .
Emily Dickinson tells us "There is no frigate like a Book/ To take us Lands away . . ."
Very true. But, oh! if that book was illustrated by N.C. Wyeth, how much richer those Lands will be!
(All images from THIS LINK. You might want to while away a little time in Wyeth's wonderful art.)
5 comments:
Thank you for introducing me to the father of an artist I have loved throughout my life, Andrew Wyeth, and now I see why he was encouraged to be an artist. I don't know why I'd never seen N. C.'s work before. I do have a special appreciation for illustrators, who supported themselves through commerce rather than fine art paintings.
These are wonderful illustrations. I've read that illustrations for children's books are some of the finest art you can find. Thanks for the link, too. I'll go take a peek at his other work. Is he related at all to the famous Andrew Wyeth?
Elizabeth, N.C.is Andrew's father.
Also love the pictures! There was an illustrator in the Little Golden books series named Eloise Wilkins. Her illustrations for me and then my daughter made the simplistic stories so wonderful. I never knew why I liked particular ones of the little books so much until I was sharing them with my young daughter and realized the thing they had in common was this illustrator. What a difference this can make especially for a young book lover.
Great!
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