Self-Portrait

Known primarily as an illustrator and muralist, Newell Convers Wyeth was initially trained as a draftsman at the Mechanic's Art School in Boston before furthering his studies with the book illustrator C.W. Reed, George L. Noyes, and Charles H. Davis. In 1902 he entered the Howard Pyle School of Illustration in Wilmington, Delaware where he became Pyle's favorite student.

Wyeth's work was dramatic and action-packed and appeared on the cover of such widely-circulated publications as Saturday Evening Post and Scribner's and he contributed illustrations to such popular books as Treasure Island. Wyeth's mural commissions include: a cycle for the Hotel Utica (1911) depicting the Woodland Indian, a theme he had treated often in illustration; two lunettes depicting Civil War battles for the Missouri State Capitol (1921); murals for the First National Bank of Boston (1924); and "Half Moon in the Hudson Triptych" for the Hotel Roosevelt, New York (1924). He also painted the triptych for the Chapel of the Holy Spirit at the Washington Cathedral (1936).

"Self-Portrait" was Wyeth's ANA diploma presentation and shows the artist in front of a landscape from his residence at Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. Stylistically, the work recalls the illustrational work that Wyeth is known for, rendered here in the medium of egg tempera paint. It was Wyeth's son-in-law, the artist Peter Hurd, who introduced him to the medium, after which he employed it frequently.