Tenant Farmer

© Andrew Wyeth / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photograph and digital image © Delawar…
© Andrew Wyeth / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Tenant Farmer
© Andrew Wyeth / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reproduction or publication.

Tenant Farmer

Date1961
Artist (American painter, 1917–2009)
MediumTempera on Masonite ™
Dimensions30 1/2 x 40 in. (77.5 x 101.6 cm)
frame: 38 x 47 1/2 in. (96.5 x 120.7 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Phelps, 1964
Object number1964-10
On View
On view
ClassificationsPAINTING
Label TextWyeth described the origins of the painting:

"I happened to see that scene three or four days before Christmas...and when I went home—it kept lingering in my mind. I kept seeing the deer swing around under the willow tree and he seemed almost to have an affinity with the building, almost, well, as if he lived there… Then I had a dream in which hundreds of deer kept racing around that brick building. Finally, I had to do the painting just to get it out of my mind."

Wyeth began painting in early January after making many pencil and dry brush studies. Usually producing only two temperas a year, he worked for almost four months on this painting.
© Andrew Wyeth / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photograph and digital image © Delawar…
Andrew Wyeth
1951
© Estate of John W. McCoy. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reproduc…
John W. McCoy
c. 1940-1941
© Artist or Artist's Estate. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reprod…
Ethel Magafan
c. 1950
© Estate of Paul Cadmus. VAGA for ARS, New York, NY. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Ar…
Paul Cadmus
1937
© Artist or Artist's Estate. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reprod…
George Matthews Harding
not dated
© Delaware Art Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Not for reproduction or publica…
Helen Farr Sloan
c. 1934
© Jamie Wyeth/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photograph and digital image © Delaware …
Jamie Wyeth
c. 1962
Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reproduction or publication.
N. C. Wyeth
1944