“In the Crystal Depths”
Today, one from the Golden Age of Illustration.
“In the Crystal Depths” is an oil on canvas painting from 1906 by American artist and illustrator, N. C. Wyeth. This is one of five pieces in a series commissioned by The Outing Magazine for their June 1907 edition. Wyeth named his series, The Indian and his Solitude.
Wyeth’s illustrations were very popular with the public. So much so, that The Outing Magazine created a variety of different sized reproductions of Wyeth’s images that they sold to their readers, including a box set of all the images together.
Wyeth was one of Howard Pyle’s star pupils. Pyle was extremely popular and one of the most well-known artists from the American Age of Illustration. When Wyeth got his first commission creating a western inspired piece, Pyle convinced Wyeth to head west to do some research. Wyeth listened, and in 1904 he headed out to the southwest United States and got a job working as a cowboy.
While out there, Wyeth spent some time with the Navajo in Arizona. When his money was stolen, he became a mail carrier and worked to get enough money to head back home. Several years later, Wyeth returned to the west and spend his money acquiring clothing and other interests from indigenous peoples. He used these as props to help make his depictions more authentic.
“In the Crystal Depths” is currently in the collections of the Brandywine Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania in the United States.
For more on N. C. Wyeth, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
