Sunday, December 28, 2025

Treasure Island by N. C. Wyeth

 


6 comments:

  1. I am a little surprised that a Wyeth painted this.

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  2. NC Wyeth illustrated the first edition (1911) of Treasure Island by RL Stevenson.

    I read it as a kid 60 years ago. The illustrations were mesmerizing and added much to the book.

    Don in Oregon

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  3. "Wyeth revolutionized book illustration through works like this 1911 masterpiece. Wyeth brought the rigor of fine art to commercial illustration, using live models (including locals dressed as pirates) and plein air studies to achieve unprecedented authenticity. His Treasure Island paintings—created when he was just 29—established his signature style: heroic scale, chiaroscuro lighting, and a visceral sense of movement that made viewers feel the creak of ship timbers and the salt spray of the Caribbean."

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  4. I like Anton Otto Fischer’s work just as much. His pen and ink drawings and his color illustrations are superb. He was about a decade after this. Find a 1930 copy of Moby Dick for example.

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  5. I agree. I love Weyeth's watercolors, especially the secret paintings of his mistress.
    His illustrations seem cartoonist and stilted. I have been lucky enough to find two of
    Gustave Dore illustrated books over the years (Milton's Paradise Lost and I think the Inferno, both from the 1890s). Very passionate engravings for sure. Would love to find one of the Bible editions.( One of my interests as my degree was graphic design and print maker and an illustrator in the 1st infantry division (Big Red One, fort Riley, Kansas).
    Bubbarust

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  6. I feel very privileged that the Brandywine Museum of Art is 30 minutes down the road and I can visit it whenever I want.

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