VERSO
Label, American Illustrators Gallery, New York, New York
Label, Scribner’s Magazine, New York, New York

The Fight in the Peaks is included in the N. C. Wyeth Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings as number 621.

Richard Layton, the first curator of the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, wrote, “With pictures by N. C. Wyeth. These words, appearing on the covers and pages of scores of magazines and books, have served to quicken the hearts and raise the expectations of young readers for three generations. To all of us as parents, librarians, or students of history, the name N. C. Wyeth has stood as a hallmark of special merit. In very large measure, it was his hand that gave form to our earliest concepts of heroism and adventure.

“During the ‘golden’ years of illustration in America, from the mid-1870s through the first decades of this century, many capable and creative talents found their way into print. Fewer were the really great ones, such as Winslow Homer, Howard Pyle, or Frederic Remington. Certainly, Newell Convers Wyeth was one of the ‘greats.’ Through forty-two years of illustrating, from 1903 until his death in 1945, Wyeth created a large body of important and lasting works – nearly four thousand in all.”

The Fight in the Peaks appeared in Scribner’s Magazine in 1917 and featured the following text accompanying the image: “The experience of a Norwegian locating engineer, on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, who, being an experienced ski-runner, packed mail over the mountain before the railroad was completed.”

PROVENANCE
Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, New York
Lyman H. Howe, Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania
Private collection, Delaware
American Illustrators Gallery, New York, New York, 2014
Private collection, Wyoming

LITERATURE
Scribner’s Magazine, vol. LXI, February 1917, frontispiece, illustrated
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N. C. Wyeth: The Collected Paintings, Illustrations & Murals, Crown, 1972, p. 277, listed
Christine B. Podmaniczky, N. C. Wyeth Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, Scala, 2008, pp. 267, 461, illustrated

Additional Resources

• N. C. Wyeth’s Past Results
• View Condition Report

Condition ReportSurface is in excellent condition. Canvas is lined. Small spots of inpainting in sky, upper-left corner. Small spots of inpainting in rocks and end of ski pole below wolves. Specks of inpainting along bottom, at the edge of frame.

Important Notice: Statements of condition are provided as a service to potential bidders; such statements are educated opinions and should not be regarded as facts. The Coeur d’Alene Art Auction has no responsibility for any errors or omissions.