Catalogue entry

Hoyt House
Catalogue no. 504
1947–48
Wellfleet, MA
Oil on canvas
20 1/4 x 28 in. (51.4 x 71.1 cm)
Signed, dated upper right: "E W Dickinson / 1948"
Gilbert & Ruth Scharf
Notes

Notes: Painted in Wellfleet, MA and New York, NY from photographs. April 26, 27 in Buffalo, drew the Hoyt house, too cold for his hands, will finish it from a photograph in Wellfleet. June 10 began in Wellfleet, 11, 12, 18, 19, 27, 28, 30, November 12, December 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17, 18, 27, 31. 1948: January 5, 7, 8, 12, 22, 24, 28 "trees etc.", 29, February 2, 3, 4, 5, 12, 13, 14 "finished Hoyt House."

The painting was commissioned by Esther Hoyt Sawyer, to be a "portrait" of her girlhood home before it was demolished. It was in some way unsatisfactory to her and was kept by ED.

To EHS, December 17, 1947, "Being unable to do it as you wanted it done - in the premier coup style, I have found myself unable to do it other than carefully, well, and so it proceeds. The house is nearly completed; the environs will not take as long as the house has." To EHS, May 27, 1948, couldn't come to Buffalo but "I would have been glad to, and to do whatever you wanted me to do on the house." Proposes late September.

Journal October 12, 1955: "on the 3rd inst. I saw the paysage view of Mrs. Hoyt's house. Its receipt was never acknowledged. It was expected to be premier coup. That was impossible of doing, though I undertook it from nature. This piece is a nice piece. I do not understand its being so very unappreciated. It should be understood that premier-coup & an assigned subject do not go together." [ED was in Buffalo for funeral of Ansley W. Sawyer].

Provenance
Estate
Frances Dickinson
Scharf Family Collection
Gilbert & Ruth Scharf
Exhibition History
1967b PAA
Provincetown Art Association, Hawthorne Memorial Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, Selections from the Work of Edwin Dickinson, August 3–September 4, 1967.
1970 Wellfleet Art Gallery
Wellfleet Art Gallery, Wellfleet, Massachusetts, Special Exhibition: Edwin Dickinson, Painting-Drawing, 1911-1950, June 26–July 5, 1970.
1970 Cape Cod Conservatory
Cape Cod Conservatory of Music and Arts, Barnstable, Massachusetts, Paintings and Drawings by Edwin Dickinson, July 12–August 1, 1970.
1970 Bristol Art Museum
Bristol Art Museum, Bristol, Rhode Island, An Exhibition of Paintings by Edwin Dickinson, August 13–24, 1970.
1974 Cape Cod Conservatory
Cape Cod Conservatory of Music and Arts, Barnstable, Massachusetts, An Exhibition by Edwin Dickinson, May 19–?, 1974.
1976 PAAM
Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, Massachusetts, Edwin Dickinson Retrospective, August 14–September 7, 1976.
1977–78 Burchfield Center, Buffalo
State University College at Buffalo, Charles Burchfield Center, Buffalo, New York, Tribute Exhibition: Edwin Dickinson, September 18, 1977–November 6, 1978. Traveled to: Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, New York, January 14–February 19, 1978; Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, November 16–December 23, 1978.
1980–81 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Smithsonian Institution, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., Edwin Dickinson, Selected Landscapes, September 18, 1980–December 14, 1981.
Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Dickinson Baldwin, Helen. "Hoyt House, 1947–48 (Catalogue no. 504)." In The Edwin Dickinson Catalogue Raisonné. www.edwindickinson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=504 (accessed on July 15, 2026).