Newell Convers (NC) Wyeth
 NC Wyeth is represented by the LAC by three book illustrations in the gallery, one for Robinson Crusoe, one for “Romantic Prince,” and one for the novel, “Cimmarron” by Edna Ferber.
NC was born in 1882. He trained as an artist in Boston, but at the age of 20, he left Massachusetts to go to Wilmington, Delaware to study with the scholarly illustrator Howard Pyle. Pyle ignited Wyeth’s gifts and gave him the technical training that allowed him to implement his genius for expressing pure, romantic notion. Often, Pyle and his favorite pupil would journey on foot the twelve miles to Chadds Ford, PA to paint along the banks of the Brandywine River.
By 1906, NC had married and settled in the Pennsylvania hills. It was due to NC’s vigor that his family became so involved in the arts. He was a formable figure, standing 6’2” tall, weighing about 240 lbs. and able to hold at arms length two filled dairyman’s mild cans. He believed that anything less than total emotional involvement in work and play was a denial of human life itself.  His own imagination was perpetually adolescent and he thought everything was a Gothic drama. NC was a brilliant artist; his illustrations of children’s classics give a legendary air to literature as well as everyday life. He painted robust men of action with bulging thighs and biceps, and the gnarled trees of Sherwood Forest. In his studio he kept costumes, weapons, jerkins, leather vests, cloaks and capes, and all the necessary equipment for a fantasy to take place.
NC was very successful in his career. He had servants, a Cadillac, tennis courts, etc., with a circle of impressive friends—such as du Ponts, Dounglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and Lillian Gish. NC married a quiet, introspective woman named Carol, the had five children; Henriette, who married Peter Hurd and became a portraitist of young children; Carolyn, who became a painter of brooding, abstract power; Nathaniel, who became a scientist; Ann, who became a musician; and Andrew, who also became a painter.
NC developed a comprehensive theory of painting which he taught a few students and his own children. NC believed in a severe technical foundation with months of drawing cones and spheres and plaster casts. Next, came studies of anatomy—drawing skeletons over and over. He never taught a formal technique for painting a picture, but rather a way to see and feel the quality and depth in an objectNC believed that with children you build a reservoir o f reflection, a rich background upon which they can build. It is interesting to note that 12 of NC’s 13 grandchildren also work in the arts.
In his lifetime, Newell Convers Wyeth was one of America’s most prolific and greatest illustrations—producing 4,000 works, including illustrations for 112 books. In 1945, NC and his 2 year old grandchild were killed at a train crossing in Chadds Ford, PA when his car stalled on the tracks.
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