N. C. Wyeth (1882–1945)

Contemporary children's author Robert D. San Souci, perhaps best known for his folkloric retellings, here spins the nonfiction story of the sailing of the Mayflower and the establishment of the Plymouth Colony. His text, quite extensive for a picture book, is accompanied by reproductions of celebrated American artist and illustrator N.C. Wyeth's series of murals depicting the Pilgrims and their settlement. The narrative covers the voyage across the Atlantic, the first period anchored off the show more coast of Massachusetts, when the Pilgrims were still living mostly onboard ship, the choice of a settlement and slow exploration, first meetings with local Native Americans, the building up of the settlement and first year, and concludes with the first Thanksgiving feast. The book closes with a note from San Souci regarding the history, and the sources he used, as well as a note on N.C. Wyeth...

I love N.C. Wyeth's artwork, so when I discovered that Robert D. San Souci—an author whose work in other veins I have enjoyed—had penned a picture book history of the Pilgrim settlement and first Thanksgiving, one that made use of Wyeth's murals depicting those subjects, I immediately sought it out. I was not disappointed, finding it a good general history of the subject, and a visual treat that rewards a slow and leisurely examination. The paintings here are lovely, both in their overall composition, and in many of their details. I think my favorite scene was a more domestic one, in which a Pilgrim woman is spinning, and her suitor, hat in hands, is speaking to her. Of course, as is pointed out in the note at the rear, this scene would not have been realistic for the first year depicted in the text, when conditions would have been far more primitive, but it is beautiful all the same. Recommended to fellow admirers of N.C. Wyeth's work, as well as those seeking a basic picture book introduction to the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving. show less

I checked this book out for the N. C. Wyeth illustrations. They had an odd quality, unlike the illustrations I'm used to, from, e.g., Treasure Island. There's a reason for that, the illustrations are reproductions of murals that N. C. Wyeth was commissioned to paint in the cafeteria of the MetLife building in NYC in the 1940s. They have a flat and simple quality that his adventure paintings do not have, and there are no sinister faces or intimations of violence. The Mayflower picture is, show more like his other ship pictures, dramatic. N.C. Wyeth died before he could complete the commission and later his son Andrew Wyeth completed the paintings that he had already sketched out. None of those later completed paintings are used in this book.

The story is simply told, without any effusions. There is an author's note at the end. A classic. show less

N. C. Wyeth’s Men of Concord is a fascinating and well-illustrated little book. It has articles by David F. Wood, Leslie Perrin Wilson, N. C. Wyeth, and drawings and other works. Writers of these articles looked at Henry Thoreau’s importance of place, how he made a living, his evolutionary life, and Wyeth’s paintings of such subjects. As a painter and illustrator, Wyeth filled the pages with paintings and sketches of the Men of Concord, Massachusetts. Also included in this issue was show more selected resources that would be helpful to readers. show less

Collected illustrations from a personal collection, with accompanying essays. The illustrations are more interesting than the essays.