N. C. WYETH | A Hindu Mystic (Seated Arab)

Street & Smith, New York
Condé Nast, New York
Graham Gallery, New York
Private collection, New York
Sold: Christie's, New York, December 2, 2004, lot 126
Acquired by the present owner at the above sale

New York, Graham Gallery, N.C. Wyeth, January-February 1964, no. 18 (as Seated Arab)
Greenville, South Carolina, Greenville County Museum of Art, N.C. Wyeth, March-May 1974, no. 76, p. 12, illustrated

The Popular Magazine, vol. XXVI, no. 6, January 1913, illustrated on the cover
Douglas Allen and Douglas Allen, Jr., N.C. Wyeth: The Collected Paintings, Illustrations and Murals, New York, 1972, p. 269
Christine Podmaniczky, N.C. Wyeth: A Catalogue Raisonné, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, 2008, vol. I, no. I.449, p. 264, illustrated

The canvas is lined. There is frame abrasion at extreme edges and minor surface cracking throughout. Under UV: there is a dot of inpainting at lower left corner, a 2 inch L-shaped line in the man's foot at lower right corner, a dot and line at lower right edge, a dot in man's left shoulder. There are a few dots in the background of center register and along top edge. There are a few other scattered lines of inpainting.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

N.C. Wyeth painted this work for the cover of The Popular Magazine in 1912. The publication was issued for nearly 30 years beginning in 1930 and often featured exciting and dramatic short stories. Christine Podmaniczky explains the inscription on A Hindu Mystic (Seated Arab): "The name Pierson (note variant spelling) Barnes occurs in both the 1900 and the 1920 census of Birmingham Township, and Barnes' presence in Chadds Ford around 1911 is documented in several letters written by historian Chris Sanderson to his mother (Thomas R. Thompson, Chris, Philadelphia, 1973, pp. 180, 182). Barnes worked as a day laborer and boarded with Lydia Archie, an African-American preacher who established a church in a section of Chadds Ford known as 'Little Africa.' According to Andrew Wyeth, his father 'borrowed' the name Barnes as a joke when he encountered a rule at The Popular Magazine that an artist was not permitted two consecutive covers" (N.C. Wyeth: A Catalogue Raisonné, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, 2008, vol. I, p. 264).