"Если представить себе историю американского искусства как огромный многокомнатный особняк, в каждой комнате которого разыгрывается специфичный американский диалог между трансцендентализмом и буквализмом, то комната Ньюэлла Конверса Уайета (анг. Newell Convers Wyeth; 1882-1945), с его особой версией этого диалога — приключенческими историями, рассказанными торжественно, как псалмы — занимает довольно маленькую площадь. Но комната достаточно просторна для растущей семьи и имеет большое окно" ('Pictures Great,' His Publisher Told Him by Adam Gopnik. The New York Times, November 15, 1998. © Перевод - мой).
The Pike County Ballads by John Hay
Illustrated by N.C.WYETH
Boston and New York
Houghton Mifflin Company
1912
The Mysterious Stranger
A Romance by Mark Twain
With Illustrations by N.C.WYETH
New York
Harper & Brothers Publishers
1916
If one imagines the history of American art as a many-chambered mansion, where a peculiarly American dialogue between fantasy and exactitude, between transcendentalism and literalism, gets acted out, then N. C. Wyeth's particular version of that dialogue — adventure stories told as solemnly as psalms — occupies a pretty small room. But it was large enough to raise a family in, and it had a big window.
Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945) was one of the greatest illustrators and painters of the twentieth century. He studied under Howard Pyle between 1902 and 1904 and assimilated the teacher’s philosophy to capture natural aspects and meanings through "mental projection." The artist created 3,000 paintings and illustrated 112 books. The paintings created by the maestro are really mental: they live, sound, and are remembered; you definitely want to return to them. Dynamism and complexity of composition; excellent color and skillful distribution of light contrasting with deeply cast shadow; and something transcendental, radiating a vibrant emotionality that is immediately transmitted to the viewer, forcing him to intensely empathize with the characters in the story — this is the visual style of Newell Convers Wyeth. Wyeth himself called his philosophy of illustration a polysemantic term — "sight seen," which I would translate as the ability to look and convey what is seen to the viewer from the position of a single observer — the artist himself. That is, this is a form of presenting material in which the utmost accuracy of realities and carefully thought-out fantasies are not simply the artist's goal to convince the viewer of something but to present the event as a self-evident fact, which the viewer knew about and with which he has always agreed. Wyeth's gaze is the gaze of a child — from bottom to top, the enthusiastic gaze of a boy; it is the artist's memory of the experiences, dreams, and fantasies of childhood and youth; of the bright sun and of large trees casting long afternoon shadows; of a multi-colored, contrasting world full of movement, mysteries, and discoveries — these are our feelings awakened by the artist.
Иллюстрации даны по изданию 1911 года, хранимому в Нью-йорской публичной библиотеке (New York Public Library), дополнены иллюстрациями по сентябрьскому изданию 1911 года из фондов Университетских калифорнийских библиотек (University of California Libraries), находящиеся в оцифрованном виде на сайте "Архив Интернета" (archive.org)
Иллюстрации даны по изданиям, хранимым в Библиотеке Конгресса (The Library of Congress) и в Университетских калифорнийских библиотеках (University of California Libraries), находящиеся в оцифрованном виде на сайте "Архив Интернета" (archive.org)



















































