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Lot 163Property from the Estate of Dr. Gerald F. Ross
Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945)
"As He Sat in the Doorway Looking at the Storm He Realized that He was Shaken by a Wild, Crude Lyric of Passion"
Price Realised
USD 118,750
More Information
Specialist note
The present work by N.C. Wyeth depicts the tragic romantic hero of Hamlin Garland’s serialized short story “The Outlaw and the Girl” published in The Ladies’ Home Journal in 1908. With the subtitle “A Singular Romance of a Girl in the Rocky Mountains,” the dramatic narrative was advertised as: “Here a girl faces a unique situation: a perplexing and thrilling problem. When brought face to face with a young train-robber in a Rocky Mountain cabin she suddenly finds herself the central figure in a romance that is about as heart-holding as a girl might well wish to experience. With the thrilling dash of the great West, the story fairly sweeps the reader with it until an unexpected climax ends an episode that is truly breath-catching in its nature.” (The Ladies’ Home Journal, vol. 25, no. 5, April 1908, p. 1) Accompanying the fourth chapter in the June 1908 issue, “As He Sat in the Doorway…” captures the outlaw in a moment of introspection as he balances his new passionate romantic interest with a life on the run from the law, and stands as a striking example of Wyeth’s ability to capture the drama of the Old West and its people through his acclaimed illustrations.
In Garland’s tale “The Outlaw and the Girl,” New Yorker Alice Mansfield accompanies a survey expedition of Frémont Peak in California. While navigating through the northern slope’s rough country, known to be the retreat of cattle-thieves and criminals, Alice’s horse trips and her foot is painfully injured, preventing her from continuing on to the summit. Left behind in a cabin in the nearby woods with only the botanist's wife for company, Alice is awoken in the middle of the night by a bright light revealing “a man’s face, young, smooth, with dark eyes gleaming beneath a broad hat.” Alice soon realizes, “She had seen on the wall of the station at ‘the road’ the description of a train-robber which tallied closely with this man’s general appearance, and the conviction that she was living in the hidden hut of an outlaw grew into a certainty.” (The Ladies’ Home Journal, vol. 25, no. 6, May 1908, p. 8) Despite the $2,000 bounty on his head, the outlaw, revealed to be ex-Rough Rider Hall McCord, soon proves himself a competent protector as the party is snowed in for days, and the pair quickly form an emotional attachment. Although the men of the expedition return and the sheriff comes to investigate, McCord cannot bring himself to fully leave Alice behind in time to escape. The tragic tale ends when Alice hears a shot outside the cabin; the sheriff’s men kill the outlaw, even as he was peacefully surrendering.
The present painting illustrates the night the couple spend snowed in at the cabin together: “To the outlaw in the Rocky Mountain cabin in that stormy night it was in every respect the climax of his life. As he sat in the doorway looking at the fire and over into the storm beyond, he realized that he was shaken by a wild, crude lyric of passion. Here was, to him, the pure emotion of love. All the beautiful things he had ever heard or read of girlhood, of women, of marriage rose in his mind to make this night an almost intolerable blending of joy and sorrow, hope and despair.” (The Ladies’ Home Journal, vol. 25, no. 7, June 1908, p. 17) Here, Wyeth transforms Garland’s ill-fated character of Hall McCord into the embodiment of the archetypal American cowboy, a handsome fellow gallantly keeping watch during a cold night, wearing his hat and boots with weapon at the ready around his waist. Through a moody environment and nuanced lighting, Wyeth captures the introspection conveyed in the lines of the story and adds a characteristic sense of mystery to the darkly attractive train-robber. Executed during a period in which Scribner's declared that Wyeth's Western pictures had “no equal in his field,” “As He Sat in the Doorway…” conveys the mystique and drama of the Old West and, more particularly, the romance of the characters who inhabited it.
In Garland’s tale “The Outlaw and the Girl,” New Yorker Alice Mansfield accompanies a survey expedition of Frémont Peak in California. While navigating through the northern slope’s rough country, known to be the retreat of cattle-thieves and criminals, Alice’s horse trips and her foot is painfully injured, preventing her from continuing on to the summit. Left behind in a cabin in the nearby woods with only the botanist's wife for company, Alice is awoken in the middle of the night by a bright light revealing “a man’s face, young, smooth, with dark eyes gleaming beneath a broad hat.” Alice soon realizes, “She had seen on the wall of the station at ‘the road’ the description of a train-robber which tallied closely with this man’s general appearance, and the conviction that she was living in the hidden hut of an outlaw grew into a certainty.” (The Ladies’ Home Journal, vol. 25, no. 6, May 1908, p. 8) Despite the $2,000 bounty on his head, the outlaw, revealed to be ex-Rough Rider Hall McCord, soon proves himself a competent protector as the party is snowed in for days, and the pair quickly form an emotional attachment. Although the men of the expedition return and the sheriff comes to investigate, McCord cannot bring himself to fully leave Alice behind in time to escape. The tragic tale ends when Alice hears a shot outside the cabin; the sheriff’s men kill the outlaw, even as he was peacefully surrendering.
The present painting illustrates the night the couple spend snowed in at the cabin together: “To the outlaw in the Rocky Mountain cabin in that stormy night it was in every respect the climax of his life. As he sat in the doorway looking at the fire and over into the storm beyond, he realized that he was shaken by a wild, crude lyric of passion. Here was, to him, the pure emotion of love. All the beautiful things he had ever heard or read of girlhood, of women, of marriage rose in his mind to make this night an almost intolerable blending of joy and sorrow, hope and despair.” (The Ladies’ Home Journal, vol. 25, no. 7, June 1908, p. 17) Here, Wyeth transforms Garland’s ill-fated character of Hall McCord into the embodiment of the archetypal American cowboy, a handsome fellow gallantly keeping watch during a cold night, wearing his hat and boots with weapon at the ready around his waist. Through a moody environment and nuanced lighting, Wyeth captures the introspection conveyed in the lines of the story and adds a characteristic sense of mystery to the darkly attractive train-robber. Executed during a period in which Scribner's declared that Wyeth's Western pictures had “no equal in his field,” “As He Sat in the Doorway…” conveys the mystique and drama of the Old West and, more particularly, the romance of the characters who inhabited it.