Thursday 30 March 2023

Rockwell Kent - part 1

Rockwell Kent, though best known as an artist and illustrator, pursued many careers throughout his long life, including architect, carpenter, explorer, writer, dairy farmer, and political activist. Born in Tarrytown, New York, Kent was interested in art from a young age. Kent attended the Horace Mann School in New York City, where he excelled at mechanical drawing. His family’s financial circumstances prevented him from pursuing career in the fine arts, however, and after graduating from Horace Mann in 1900, Kent decided to study architecture at Columbia University.

Before matriculating at Columbia, Kent spent the first of three consecutive summers studying painting at William Merritt Chase's art school in Shinnecock Hills, Long Island. There he found a community of mentors and fellow students who encouraged him to pursue his interest in art. At the end of Kent’s third summer at Shinnecock, Chase offered him a full scholarship to the New York School of Art, where he was a teacher. Kent began taking night classes at the art school in addition to his architecture studies, but soon left Columbia to study painting full time.

Kent spent the summer of 1903 assisting the painter Abbott Handerson Thayer at his studio in Dublin, New Hampshire—a position he secured through the recommendation of his Aunt Jo. Thayer gave the young artist time to pursue his own work, and that summer Kent painted several views of the New Hampshire landscape, including Mount Monadnock. In 1905 Kent moved from New York to Monhegan Island in Maine, home to a summer art colony, where he continued to find inspiration in the natural world. Kent soon found success exhibiting and selling his paintings in New York and in 1907 was given his first solo show at Claussen Galleries.


For the next several decades, Kent lived a peripatetic lifestyle, settling in several locations in Connecticut, Maine, and New York. During this time he took a number of extended voyages to remote, often ice-filled, corners of the globe, including Newfoundland, Alaska, Tierra del Fuego, and Greenland, to which he made three separate trips. For Kent, exploration and artistic production were twinned endeavors, and his travels to these rugged, rural locales provided inspiration for both his visual art and his writings. He developed a stark, realist landscape style in his paintings and drawings that revealed both nature’s harshness and its sublimity. Kent’s human figures, which appear sparingly in his work, often signify mythic themes, such as heroism, loneliness, and individualism. Important exhibitions of works from these travels include the Knoedler Gallery’s shows in 1919 and 1920, featuring Kent’s Alaska drawings and paintings, and the Art Institute of Chicago’s 1933 Paintings and Drawings of Greenland by Rockwell Kent. He wrote a number of illustrated memoirs about his adventures abroad, including Wilderness: A Journal of Quiet Adventure in Alaska (1920) and N by E (1930). His autobiography, It’s Me, O Lord, was published in 1955.


Around 1920 Kent took up wood engraving and quickly established himself as one of the preeminent graphic artists of his time. His striking illustrations for two editions of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick—simultaneously precise and abstract images that drew on his architect’s eye for spatial relations and his years of maritime adventures—proved extremely popular and remain some of his best-known works. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Kent produced a range of print media, including advertisements, bookplates, and Christmas cards. Kent’s satirical drawings, created under the pseudonym “Hogarth Jr.,” were published in popular periodicals including Vanity FairHarper’s Weekly, and Life. In 1937 the artist was commissioned by the Federal Public Works Administration to paint two murals for the New Post Office in Washington, DC.

By the onset of World War II, Kent had largely disengaged from the New York art world and instead focused his energies on a number of progressive political causes, including labor rights and preventing the spread of fascism in Europe. Though he never joined the communist party, his support of leftist causes made him a target of suspicion by the State Department, which revoked his passport after his first visit to Moscow in 1950 (though Kent successfully sued to have it reinstated). As his artistic reputation declined at home and his work fell out of favor, Kent found new popularity in the Soviet Union, where his works were exhibited frequently in the 1950s. In 1960 he donated 80 paintings and 800 prints and drawings to the people of the Soviet Union, and in 1967 he was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize. Kent died of a heart attack in 1971 and was buried on the grounds of Asgard, his farm in New York’s Adirondack Mountains.


Biography by Zoë Samels

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC


This is part 1 of a 16-part series on the works of Rockwell Kent:


1903 Dublin Pond
oil on canvas 71.1 x 76.2 cm
Art Museum of the Ministry of foreign Affairs, Amherst

1903 The Landscape of New England
oil on canvas 71.1 x 76.8 cm
Art Museum College Dartmouth, Hanover

c1903 Untitled
oil on wood cigar box 13.3 x 21 cm
Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum Consortium, MA

c1903 Untitled
oil on wood cigar box 15 x 16.5 cm
Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum Consortium, MA

1906 Cape Man, Winter
oil on canvas laid down on plywood 86 x 112 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia

1906 Monhegan
brush and black ink on paper 13 x 14.6 cm

1906-07 Late Afternoon, Monhegan Island
oil on canvas 87 x 110.5 cm

1907 Fishermen's Beach, Monhegan
oil on canvas 63.8 x 76.5 cm
Orlando Museum of Art, Florida

1907 Headland, Monhegan
brush and black ink, traces of graphite, touched with white on off-white watercolour board 14 x 18.9 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1907 Interior of a Cottage, Monhegan Island
watercolour and graphite, heightened with white opaque watercolour, on tan wove paper 19.1 x 26.7 cm
 Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1907 Noon on the sea, Monhegan
oil on canvas 86.4 x 111.8 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA

1907 Sun, Manana, Monhegan
oil on canvas 50.8 x 61 cm
Museum of Art at Bowdoin College, Brunswick

1907 Sunset over the Sea
oil on panel 19 x 21.5 cm

1907 The Coast of Maine
oil on canvas 86.7 x 112.1 cm
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio

1907 Winter on the Coast of Maine
oil on canvas 71.4 x 96.5 cm
Private Collection

1907 Toilers of the Sea
oil on canvas 96.5 x 111.8 cm
Museum of American Art, New Britain

1907 Winter, Monhegan Island
oil on canvas 86 x 111.8 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
© Estate of Rockwell Kent

c1907 Cranberrying, Monhegan
oil on canvas
Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, IL

1908 Spring Fever, the Berkshire Hills, Massachusetts
oil on canvas laid down on plywood 71 x 111.5 cm
The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

1908-09 Trying to Elevate the Poor
 brush, pen and ink on off-white wove paper
22.5 x 16.8 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1909 A Village on the Island, Maine Coast
oil on canvas 107 x 142 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia

1909 Blackhead Monhegan Island, Maine
oil on canvas 86.3 x 111.7 cm
Colby College Museum of Art

1909 Blue Bay
oil on panel 14.3 x 17.1 cm

1909 Fishermen
oil on canvas 96.5 x 111.8 cm
Private Collection

1909 Men and Mountains
oil on canvas 83.8 x 109.8 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Columbus

1909 Mount Monadnock in the Afternoon
oil on canvas 86.4 x 111.8 cm
Art Museum Fansworth, Rockland

c1909 The Comfortable Purists
pen and brush and black ink over graphite on wove paper
25.9 x 19.1 cm (image) 
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA
 

c1909 Art and Life
drawing for a cartoon in The New York Evening Call
 (February 16, 1909)
brush and pen and black ink, with white opaque watercolour corrections, on cream wove paper32.5 x 25.1 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1909 Winter Landscape
oil on canvas 96.5 x 111.7 cm
Art Museum, Indianapolis

1909 The Road Roller
oil on canvas 86.7 x 112.4 cm
The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

1909 The Coast of Maine, Winter
oil on canvas 96.2 x 113.3 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

1909 The Cape Black, Monhegan
oil on canvas 86.4 x 111.7 cm
Museum of Art, Colby College, Waterville

1909 Snow Squalls
oil on canvas 38.1 x 44.1 cm

1909 Snow Fields, Winter in the Berkshires
oil on canvas 96.5 x 11.7 cm
Smithsonian American Art Museum

1909 Peace and Freedom, Maine Coast
oil on canvas 72 x 112 cm

1910 Down to the Sea
oil on canvas 108 x 142.9 cm
Brooklyn Museum, NY

1910 Lying in the Flames
woodcut 20.3 x 14 cm
Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, DC

1910 The Mountains and the Sea
oil on canvas 96.5 x 111.7 cm
Private Collection

1912 Christmas Card for Kathleen and Rockwell Kent
photomechanical reproduction with hand-colouring
 14 x 7.9 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1912-13 Angel
photomechanical metal relief print 7.3 x 8.9 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1913 Child
oil on canvas laid down on panel 19.4 x 25.4 cm
Private Collection

c1913 The Open Road
relief print bookplate 4.9 4 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1914 Adam Style for The Brickbuilder 1 January 1915
photomechanical print 18.1 x 12.1 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1914 Fisherman with Filets
brush and black ink over traces of graphite on cream card 7.6 x 9.2 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1914 Nude Male Figure herding Cattle
brush and black ink, scraping tool on off-white coated card 8.4 x 13.8 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1914 Pastoral
oil on canvas 83.8 x 110.5 cm
Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio

1914 Portrait of a Child (or My Daughter Clara)
oil on canvas 54 x 72 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia

1914 Seiners
oil on canvas 87.9 x 110.5 cm
Museum and Sculpture Garden Hirshhorn, Washington, DC

c1914 Ave Maria
photomechanical relief print 16.2 x 10.5 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

c1914 The Pier, Monhegan Island, Maine
oil on board 25.4 x 30.5 cm

c1914 Vaster is Man than his Works
brush, pen and ink on off-white wove paper 9 x 7 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA


1914-15 Female Figure with Outstretched Arms
pen and ink

1914-15 Woman and Child, Christmas Card
brush, pen and ink on off-white wove paper 11.7 x 8.7 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

c1914-15 And Women must Weep
graphite on beige wove paper 14.9 x 15.1 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

c1914-15 And Women must Weep
ink, brush and pen on cream wove paper 14.9 x 15.1 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

c1914-15 Man on a Mast
brush and pen and black ink over traces of graphite on cream card 14.9 x 12.4 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

c1914-15 Rescue in Newfoundland
brush and pen and black ink, with scraping out, on heavyweight cream wove paper 13.3 x 17.1 cm (image)
 Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1915 Conception Bay, Newfoundland
 oil on panel 29.6 x 39.7 cm
Bowdoin College Museum of Art


Tuesday 28 March 2023

Annibale Carracci - part 6

"Neither clean nor well-dressed, with his collar askew, his hat jammed on any old way and his unkempt beard, Annibale Carracci seemed to be like an ancient philosopher, absent-minded and alone," wrote an early biographer. A tailor's son, Carracci considered himself a craftsman, not a courtier, but the Romans buried him in the Pantheon beside Raphael.

Along with his older brother Agostino and his cousin Lodovico, Annibale founded the Accademia degli Incamminati (Academy of the Progressives) in Bologna, which focused on naturalism and rejected Mannerism. There they revived the practice of working from life, focusing on the craft of art rather than the elegant life of court painters. The Carracci were tireless observers. Scholars credit Annibale with teaching caricature and helping to revive the process of creating extensive preparatory drawings for paintings.

Between 1597 and 1601, Carracci worked on the gallery ceiling of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, his most important legacy. Conceiving the ceiling as open to the sky, he painted its mythological love scenes as framed easel pictures within an illusionistic framework. After receiving a paltry five hundred lire for this extensive decoration, he suffered a breakdown. A prolific draftsman, Carracci derived his heroic figure style from antique sculpture and Michelangelo and Raphael's art, but he added a richness and buoyancy from his copious studies from life. He originated the "ideal landscape," with figures, buildings, and nature in perfect balance, a nature tamed and ennobled by man's presence.

J.Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles


This is part 6 of a 6-part series on the works of Annibale Carracci.


Note: The remainder of works in this series are not dated but are all before 1609:


Portrait of a bearded Man
oil on paper, laid down on panel
(size not given, auction house)

Portrait of a Man, bust-length, in a ruff
oil on canvas 43.2 x 35.9 cm
(auction house)

Portrait of a young Girl
oil on paper, laid down on canvas 37.5 x 27.5 cm
(auction house)

Portrait of a Young Man in profile
red chalk on paper 32.3 x 26.3 cm
(auction house)

River Landscape
 brown ink on cream antique laid paper 12.4 x 18.9 cm
Harvard Art Museums-Fogg Museum, MA
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Saint Francis in a Swoon
oil on wood panel 48.5 x 35 cm
Christ Church, University of Oxford, UK

Saint Roch and the Angel
oil on canvas 81.3 x 62.2 cm
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK

Self-Portrait?
pen and brown ink, in a double inscribed oval 12 x 9 cm
(auction house)

Sketch of a Man carrying a Bell
details not given (ink on paper?)
The Royal Collection Trust, UK

St. Catherine of Alexandria
pen and brown ink and grey wash, squared in black chalk
14 x 8.9 cm
(auction house)

Study of the legs of a reclining Putto
red chalk on paper 10.8 x 19.7 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

Study of a Monk
red chalk on paper slightly toned with pink-red chalk
 19.7 x 14.4 cm
(auction house)

Study of a Man in a Cloak
pen and iron-gall ink and wash over black chalk with later grey wash 32 x 14 cm (sheet)
 National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

Study of a Head
black chalk heightened with white chalk on grey paper
20.1 x 27.5 cm
(auction house)

Study for the figures of Mars and Venus
details not given (pen, ink and wash?)
The Royal Collection Trust, UK

Study for Apostles at the Tomb
black chalk on blue antique laid paper 34.5 x 23.5 cm
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, MA
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Study for an Ignudo
black and white chalk on grey-blue paper
(size not given, auction house)

Study after etching of the Pietà (the 'Christ of Caprarola')
pen and brown ink on paper 14.2 x 15.1 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

Studies of a Boy and a Girl
red chalk, highlighted with white chalk, on beige paper
22.9 x 32.1 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

St. Jerome writing (attributed to Carracci)
pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash on tan laid paper
15.8 x 21.9 cm
Princeton University Art Museum, NJ

Susanna and the Elders
pen and brown ink, with brown wash on paper 15.5 x 21.8 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

Susanna and the Old Men
engraving, line etching on paper (size not given)
Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki

The Adoration of the Shepherds
oil on canvas 103 x 85 cm
Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans, France
 

The Head of a Boy
red chalk on tan antique laid paper 27.1 x 20.7 cm
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, MA Photo
© President and Fellows of Harvard College

The Head of a Woman
black and white chalk on blue paper 36.2 x 26.3 cm
(auction house)

The Infant Hercules
oil on copper 20.3 x 15.6 cm
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council, UK

The Return from the Flight into Egypt
oil on canvas 66 x 88.6 cm
(auction house)

The Return from the Presentation in the Temple
 pen and brown ink with grey-brown wash on paper
 40.4 x 28 cm
© The Trustees of the British Museum, London

The Virgin and Child resting outside a City Gate
pen and brown ink, brush with traces of brown wash, on light brown beige paper 18.8 x 21.6 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Vision of Saint Eustace
oil on canvas 86 x 113 cm
Museo di Capodimonte, Naples

Two Children Teasing a Cat
oil on canvas 66 x 88.9 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Entombment of Christ
oil? on wood panel 45 x 35 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

A Girl with a Unicorn
etching 4,6 x 18.8 cm (image)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

Design for Domenichino
etching 20.5 x 15.4 cm (image)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

Design for Domenichino
etching 20.5 x 15.5 cm (image)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

Design for Domenichino
etching 20.7 x 15.7 cm (image)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

Design for Domenichino
etching 20.9 x 15.8 cm (image)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

Design for Domenichino
etching 25.4 x 13.1 cm (image)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

Design for Domenichino
etching 26.1 x 13.2 cm (image)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

Design for Domenichino
etching 26.3 x 13.5 cm (image)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

Design for Domenichino
etching 26.7 x 14.1 cm (image)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

Design for Domenichino
etching 27.7 x 16 cm (image)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

Design for Domenichino
etching 27.8 x 14.4 cm (image)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

Design for Domenichino
etching 28.5 x 15.3 cm cm (image)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

Design for Domenichino
etching 28.8 x 15.1 cm (image)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA