01 Marine Painting - Newell Convers Wyeth's The Raft of Odysseus, with Footnotes #381

Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945)

The Raft of Odysseus (Neptune Battles with Odysseus), c. 1929

Oil on canvas

48 x 38 in. (121.9 x 96.5 cm.)

Private collection

Sold for USD 425,000 in May 2016

A vivid jewel tone palette covers much of the canvas, with striking turquoises, emeralds and violets applied in brushwork that suggests movement in both the intense swelling of the sea and storm clouds swarming above. The ominous dark clouds are a stark contrast to the white foam of the wave that looms over Odysseus. The composition echoes Pyle’s teachings as well; Odysseus, the main protagonist in the story, is in the foreground as he clings to the raft with its broken mast jutting out from the water, while Neptune is positioned at a diagonal that continues from Odysseus through the wave to the upper right. The result of Wyeth’s adept work in The Raft of Odysseus (Neptune Battles with Odysseus) is a powerful image that brings to life for readers the mythical drama of this significant piece of literature. More on this painting

Newell Convers Wyeth (October 22, 1882 – October 19, 1945), known as N. C. Wyeth, was an American artist and illustrator. He was the pupil of artist Howard Pyle and became one of America's greatest illustrators. During his lifetime, Wyeth created more than 3,000 paintings and illustrated 112 books, 25 of them for Scribner's, the Scribner Classics, which is the work for which he is best known. The first of these, Treasure Island, was one of his masterpieces and the proceeds paid for his studio. Wyeth was a realist painter at a time when the camera and photography began to compete with his craft. Sometimes seen as melodramatic, his illustrations were designed to be understood quickly. Wyeth, who was both a painter and an illustrator, understood the difference, and said in 1908, "Painting and illustration cannot be mixed—one cannot merge from one into the other."

He is the father of Andrew Wyeth and the grandfather of Jamie Wyeth, both well-known American painters. More on Newell Convers Wyeth

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