Grant Wyeth

[diane]

I've never seen this one of Grant by Wyeth - it's very striking!

 

[diane]

Found a color version of this. Nice! N C Wyeth's illustrations and paintings brightened up and brought to life many books for me as a kid. This one was done in 1922.

Expired Image Removed

 

[AndyHall]

Never saw that, either. Is it part of a series, maybe?

 

[diane]

Never saw that, either. Is it part of a series, maybe?

It may be. N C Wyeth did a lot of wonderful illustrations for classics and magazines and advertising. Sort of like Maxfield Parrish, about the same time. He (Wyeth) did over 3,000 paintings and hundreds of books - Treasure Island, and so on. He did quite a bit of CW. Here is one he did of Sherman:

 

[Elennsar]

The one of Grant looks very serious. like he's talking to someone excitable about whatever is going on while remaining stoic as granite himself.

Very fitting, I think.

 

[diane]

The one of Grant looks very serious. like he's talking to someone excitable about whatever is going on while remaining stoic as granite himself.

Very fitting, I think.

I love that black and white one. It shows so much of Grant's grim determination, and the strong, clenched hand is marvelous. Really great.

 

[Elennsar]

I love that black and white one. It shows so much of Grant's grim determination, and the strong, clenched hand is marvelous. Really great.

Yeah. There's something about him that looks as firmly rooted as a mountain.

The color is lovely, but I think the black and white feels right for that theme.

"We will hold this position."

I don't dislike the one of Sherman from an artistic standpoint, but Sherman doesn't come off quite as well - something about the eyes feels a little unsettling, more like Stonewall Jackson than Lee or Grant or Thomas (while speaking men of iron).

 

[AndyHall]

More on Wyeth's CW work here:

http://npsfrsp.wordpress.com/2012/0...ody-angle-a-old-collaboration-and-a-new-blog/

 

[diane]

Yeah. There's something about him that looks as firmly rooted as a mountain.

The color is lovely, but I think the black and white feels right for that theme.

"We will hold this position."

I don't dislike the one of Sherman from an artistic standpoint, but Sherman doesn't come off quite as well - something about the eyes feels a little unsettling, more like Stonewall Jackson than Lee or Grant or Thomas (while speaking men of iron).

The eyes bother me, too, but I like it. That is melodrama, something Wyeth liked to capitalize on. But, nevertheless, Sherman was as determined as Grant and just a tiny bit nuts into the bargain - not insane, mind! It captures something about Sherman's feelings during the march.

 

[diane]

More on Wyeth's CW work here:

http://npsfrsp.wordpress.com/2012/0...ody-angle-a-old-collaboration-and-a-new-blog/

Oh, I'd forgotten about that brooding, hell's a-comin' to somebody, Jackson! Love it.

 

[AndyHall]

There's something about him that looks as firmly rooted as a mountain.

He habitually wears an expression as if he had determined to drive his head through a brick wall, and was about to do it.

-- Col. Theodore Lyman. in Meade's headquarters, 1863-1865;
letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness to Appomattox.​

 

[diane]

There is a famous quote about Grant to the effect that (close paraphrase) "he looked like he had decided to put his head through a brick wall, and was about to do it."

That was what set Grant apart from all the other generals Lincoln had tried. He would not retreat - his hard luck life had taught him retreat equals failure and he hated to fail.

 

[AndyHall]

Via Harry Smeltzer:

http://bullrunnings.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/n-c-wyeth-civil-war-art/

 

[Elennsar]

The eyes bother me, too, but I like it. That is melodrama, something Wyeth liked to capitalize on. But, nevertheless, Sherman was as determined as Grant and just a tiny bit nuts into the bargain - not insane, mind! It captures something about Sherman's feelings during the march.

Yeah. Sherman strikes me as while not precisely insane what was called "mercurial" in his day. Very passionate but not very steady - it would be easy to play with his nerves compared to his friends (Thomas and Grant both).

Made of good stuff in the end, at least as relates to what we're talking about here, but it took a while for the grit to build up.

He habitually wears an expression as if he had determined to drive his head through a brick wall, and was about to do it.

-- Col. Theodore Lyman. in Meade's headquarters, 1863-1865;
letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness to Appomattox.​

https://derpibooru.org/98682?scope=scpef3c65064153c6f6d7f3ac6688b25ad4bb2acd9bd

Maybe not quite so enthusiastic, but that kind of shattering, "unstoppable force." comes to mind when thinking of Lyman's quote.

And I'm not sure if it scares or inspires me. I wouldn't want to be in the front ranks when Grant decided it was time to move forward tactically, but I would be cheering with everyone else in regards to deciding that "Okay, so we move south." in 1864.

That wasn't just grit. That was a determination to make things happen, to smash obstacles and press on.

Of such stuff are winners made.

 

[diane]

Yeah. Sherman strikes me as while not precisely insane what was called "mercurial" in his day. Very passionate but not very steady - it would be easy to play with his nerves compared to his friends (Thomas and Grant both).

Made of good stuff in the end, at least as relates to what we're talking about here, but it took a while for the grit to build up.



https://derpibooru.org/98682?scope=scpef3c65064153c6f6d7f3ac6688b25ad4bb2acd9bd

Maybe not quite so enthusiastic, but that kind of shattering, "unstoppable force." comes to mind when thinking of Lyman's quote.

And I'm not sure if it scares or inspires me. I wouldn't want to be in the front ranks when Grant decided it was time to move forward tactically, but I would be cheering with everyone else in regards to deciding that "Okay, so we move south." in 1864.

That wasn't just grit. That was a determination to make things happen, to smash obstacles and press on.

Of such stuff are winners made.

This is what makes the Lee/Grant contest so enthralling. Lee, too, had a different kind of hardscrabble life. He had to live up to Virginian aristocracy standards despite his father and some other family members having hit way below that! Maybe he didn't bust up wood or plow a field but he had the same sense of retreat equals failure and that I cannot do. Here were two determined, dedicated, principled men with surprisingly much in common going head to head. Homer couldn't have thought up better!

 

[Elennsar]

This is what makes the Lee/Grant contest so enthralling. Lee, too, had a different kind of hardscrabble life. He had to live up to Virginian aristocracy standards despite his father and some other family members having hit way below that! Maybe he didn't bust up wood or plow a field but he had the same sense of retreat equals failure and that I cannot do. Here were two determined, dedicated, principled men with surprisingly much in common going head to head. Homer couldn't have thought up better!

I think with all due respect comparing Lee's life trying to prove that he wasn't his father's son (in the sense of Harry Lee turning out to be disgraceful) is far from comparable. The Lee name did not hold Robert back, the Grant name did nothing for Ulysses.

That being said, both faced their challenges and overcame them, and the result is two tough, canny, gutsy guys going at each other.

 

[KansasFreestater]

I love that black and white one. It shows so much of Grant's grim determination, and the strong, clenched hand is marvelous. Really great.

All that's missing is the cigar.

 

[Patrick H]

Newell Converse Wyeth was one of the greatest illustrators who ever lived. That's my opinion, and I would characterize my opinion as "immovable".

Ergo, your varying opinions are welcome and I will respect them. Please post your favorites, and I will most likely be cheering for your choices. I LOVE illustrators. I am amazed and inspired by so many of them. But, please don't anyone try to talk me out of my opinion, because, if you try, you will get nowhere!

By the way, I am quite certain the second version in this thread (in color) is the way Mr. Wyeth wanted us to see it. Ditto for the portrait of Sherman.

And if anyone wants to see who inspired Mr. Wyeth, you need look no further than Mr. Howard Pyle. Google up the term "Howard Pyle Illustrations" and prepare to be amazed.

....Just the ramblings of a career commercial artist who still does an illustration from time to time. But, no matter how hard I apply myself, mine are never quite up to their standards.

 

[KansasFreestater]

That wasn't just grit. That was a determination to make things happen, to smash obstacles and press on.

Of such stuff are winners made.

I love what Lincoln said when asked for his impressions after having met Grant:

"Well, I hardly know what to think of him. He's the quietest little fellow you ever saw. He makes the least fuss of any man I ever knew. I believe on several occasions he has been in this room a minute or so before I knew he was here. It's about so all around. The only evidence you have that he's in any particular place is that he makes things move."​

 

[Nathanb1]

I think with all due respect comparing Lee's life trying to prove that he wasn't his father's son (in the sense of Harry Lee turning out to be disgraceful) is far from comparable. The Lee name did not hold Robert back, the Grant name did nothing for Ulysses.

That being said, both faced their challenges and overcame them, and the result is two tough, canny, gutsy guys going at each other.

I have to disagree with the part about the Lee name. It did, in fact, "hold him back" in many ways. The family was impoverished, had to rely on the rest of the family to scratch by, and probably exacerbated his mother's health problems. He was considered unsuitable, remember, by Custis as a match for his daughter. I have no reason to believe he wouldn't have faced the same opposition from other fathers, had he wanted to marry them. What Lee did is to make himself impervious to the scandal and spend his entire life trying to overcome (in his own mind, if not others) what his father and brother (don't forget THAT scandal, which in many ways is worse than Harry's) had done. The Grant name may not have done anything for Ulysses, but it didn't brand him. There is no burden, for someone who comes from a place where one's name is a key in who and what he is--like the burden of one's immediate family. Maybe it's a southern thing, but you are (were) known by who your family is/was.

Lecture over.