Club completes private sale of N.C. Wyeth painting

The National Press Club and Journalism Institute have accepted an offer for a painting by famed early 20th century illustrator N.C. Wyeth that for the past few years has hung in the library conference room.

Club President Jen Judson said the painting netted several hundred thousand dollars, but the exact amount could not be announced because it was a private sale.

The painting is of an Old West scene with seven rough men, three of them handcuffed, riding in a buckboard.  Wyeth was a frequent contributor to the Saturday Evening Post, and this painting was used to illustrate a story in the magazine’s Aug. 1, 1908, issue. It was on page 5 in black and white.

How and when it got to the Club had been forgotten until Club Historian Gil Klein found a photograph on eBay showing President Warren Harding, a newspaper publisher who was an active Club member, voting in a Board election in 1921 with the painting barely visible hanging on the wall above his head.

Klein’s research surmised that the painting had been contributed by George H. Lorimer, the Saturday Evening Post editor, who was an enthusiastic Club member from at least 1914 to 1936, even though he lived in Philadelphia.

The painting had hung in various places in the Club, and it had suffered some damage, some of which the Club paid to restore. With its value considered to be high and growing, it had to be locked in the conference room.

Both the Club’s governing board and the institute board decided that it would be better to sell the painting rather than having it locked away and paying insurance premiums to cover it.  As they did in 2015 with the Norman Rockwell painting that hung outside the Reliable Source, they turned to Christie’s Auction House to seek bids.

Christie’s worked closely with a passionate collector who took immediate interest in the work. After viewings and an earnest negotiation, the work was eventually sold for a market-appropriate amount. The institute board, which was the owner of record of the painting, unanimously approved the sale.

As with the Rockwell painting, 70% of the proceeds will go to the Club and 30% to the institute.

“It is far more valuable to the Club and to journalism to have this money put to good use for our mission of promoting journalism education, protecting journalists and the First Amendment and keeping the Club active and a place where news happens,” Judson said.

As it did with the Rockwell painting, the Club will receive a giclee print of the Wyeth, so a replica of the painting will remain on display.

Klein, who also is president of the Journalism Institute, said the Club won two ways with the sale.

“We will have an exact copy of the painting, and we have the story about how it got to the Club,” he said.  “And, we have several hundred thousand dollars to put to good use.”