Friday 7 April 2023

Rockwell Kent - part 4

Rockwell Kent was an American artist best known for his signature, smooth style of landscape painting. Often cited as an early American Modernist, Kent's work focuses on the otherworldly beauty of nature, influenced by Transcendentalism and the mysticism of writers such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Kent also made numerous extended visits to international areas of isolated wilderness, including Tierra del Fuego, Alaska, and Greenland, which served as inspiration to his work. His paintings are heavily stylised, with organic forms taking on geometric qualities and contrasting colour relationships. The artist initially graduated with an undergraduate degree in architecture from Columbia University in New York, and later studied composition and design at the Art Students League in 1900 before dedicating himself to painting. Sometime in the 1910s, he purchased an Adirondack farmstead which he named Asgaard from where he continued to work prolifically. He achieved considerable success in the 20th century, garnering awards such as the 1967 reception of the International Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet Union, along with a monetary prize which Kent donated to the people of Vietnam. Born on June 21, 1882, in Tarrytown, NY, he died in Plattsburgh, NY on March 13, 1971.

For a more comprehensive biography see part 1, and for earlier works see parts 1 - 3 also.

This is part 4 of a 16-part series on the works of Rockwell Kent:


c1920 Bookplate design for Katherine Brush
monochrome engraving 9.3 x 6.1 cm
University of Delaware Library

c1920 Bookplate design for Carl Zigrosser
pen and black ink and black wash on tracing paper
 7.6 x 6 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

c1920 Bookplate for Carl Zigrosser
relief print 4.6 x 3.5 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

c1920 Bookplate design for E. Weyhe
relief print 3.5 x 2.7 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

c1920 Bookplate design for Florence King
relief print 3.8 x 3.2 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

c1920 Bookplate design for Kathleen and Rockwell Kent
relief print 3.7 x 3 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

c1920 Mephisto Inc.
colour relief print 10.2 cm diameter (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

c1920 Vermont Study
oil on canvas-board (size not found)
Bennington Museum, Vermont

1920s Ex Libris for The Warner Library

1921 "1689 to 1921 First Retrospective Exhibition of American Art" poster
photomechanical metal relief print image with letterpress text on thin tan cardboard 56 x 32.9 cm
 Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1921 Boy with Branch and a Bird
wood engraving 5.4 x 3.2 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1921 Man Leaning on a Sword
wood engraving 4.6 x 2.5 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1921 Mount Equinox, Winter
oil on canvas 86.6 x 111.9 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, IL

1921 Naked Girl with Deer
pencil and watercolour on paper 25.6 x 17.9 cm
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1921 Nude Child Holding a Candle
brush and pen and black ink over traces of graphite, with scraping out, on cream wove paper 13 x 11.6 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1921 Protection
woodcut 25.4 x 35.5 cm (image)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA

1921 Sundown, Greenland (originally mis-titled; actually Vermont)
oil on canvas 71.4 x 112.1 cm
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

1921 The Great-of-Soul
(published inVanity Fair magazine May 1921)
brush, pen, and black ink, traces of graphite on tracing paper 15.2 x 8.9 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1921 Vanity Fair magazine illustration
photomechanical reproduction 18.9 x 18.3 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1921-23 Shadows of Evening
oil on canvas 86.7 x 112.1 cm 
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

1921The Trapper
oil on canvas 86.7 x 112.1 cm
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

1922 Azopardo River
oil on canvas 86.6 x 111.7 cm
The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

1922 Bookplate for Lucie Rosen
relief print 5.9 x 3.5 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1922 Twilight of Man from Thomas Hardy's "An Ancient of Ancients"
Century magazine illustration

1926 Twilight of Man from Thomas Hardy's "An Ancient of Ancients"
wood engraving 13.9 x 20.1 cm

1933 Twilight of Man from Thomas Hardy's "An Ancient of Ancients"
offset lithograph from a watercolour

1922-25 Admiralty Sound, Tierra del Fuego
oil on canvas 86 x 112 cm
Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

1922-25 Mountain Lake–Tierra del Fuego
oil on panel 39.7 x 51.1 cm
The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

c1922 An Ancient to Ancients
pencil, brush and black ink on white wove paper
13 x 20.3 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1923 Amorous Scene
brush, pen and ink on cream wove paper 17 x 24.6 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1923 Mountain Ekinoks, Vermont
oil on panel (size not given)
Private Collection

By 1923 Tierra del Fuego, South America (Dome Mountain)
oil on canvas 86.4 x 110.8 cm

1923 The Commuters (Life magazine 20 December 1923)
pen and brush and black ink over traces of graphite on wove paper 16.5 x 12.7 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1923 Vanity Fair
magazine cover for May 1923

1923-25 Seascape
oil on canvas 86.7 x 111.8 cm
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, PA

1923-27 Green Mountains, Vermont
oil on canvas 86.3 x 111.7 cm

1923-27 Vermont
oil on canvas
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT

c1923 Bookplate for George S. Chappell
relief print 4 x 3.5 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

c1923 Bookplate for Mary C. Wheelwright
relief print 7.3 x 3.8 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

c1923 The Homecoming
pen and brush and ink on cream wove paper
13.3 x 10.5 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1924 Absolution
photomechanical reproduction of drawing
19 x 12.7 cm (sheet)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1924 Adrift
photomechanical reproduction 1.4 x 14.8 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1924 Drawing for an illustration in Life magazine
 (March 6, 1924)
rush, pen, and black ink, traces of graphite, touched with white on off-white board 29.4 x22.9 cm (image) Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1924 Invitation to Playboy's Fête Futuriste
photomechanical metal relief print with letterpress type
15.2 x 8.3 cm (sheet)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1924 Madonna and Child
photomechanical reproduction for a Christmas Card
 23.3 x 15.6 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1924 Our Hope
linocut with typeset text 7 x 7.3 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1924 Poster artwork for International Exhibition of Paintings, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh
process print 39.1 x 38.7 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1924 Poster for International Exhibition of Paintings, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh

1924 The Vision "I Am"
lithograph, edition of 30

1924 The Wanderer
photomechanical reproduction 12.1 x 12.7 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

c1924 Diver
brush, pen, and black ink, scraping tool on off-white coated card 10.8 x 8.7 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

c1924 St. Augustine
photomechanical reproduction 13 x 13.2 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1925 Newfoundland Memorial Service
oil on canvas 86.7 x 111.7 cm

1925 Still the Breath Divine does Move
And the Breath Divine is Love.
wood engraving on cream wove paper 19.1 x 13.7 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, IL

1925 Still the Breath Divine Does Move
And the Breath Divine is Love
holiday card relief print 8.9 x 7.9 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

c1925 Bookplate for John Hay Whitney
colour relief print 9.2 x 7 cm (image) 
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA


Wednesday 5 April 2023

Rockwell Kent - part 3

Rockwell Kent was an American artist best known for his signature, smooth style of landscape painting. Often cited as an early American Modernist, Kent's work focuses on the otherworldly beauty of nature, influenced by Transcendentalism and the mysticism of writers such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Kent also made numerous extended visits to international areas of isolated wilderness, including Tierra del Fuego, Alaska, and Greenland, which served as inspiration to his work. His paintings are heavily stylised, with organic forms taking on geometric qualities and contrasting colour relationships. The artist initially graduated with an undergraduate degree in architecture from Columbia University in New York, and later studied composition and design at the Art Students League in 1900 before dedicating himself to painting. Sometime in the 1910s, he purchased an Adirondack farmstead which he named Asgaard from where he continued to work prolifically. He achieved considerable success in the 20th century, garnering awards such as the 1967 reception of the International Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet Union, along with a monetary prize which Kent donated to the people of Vietnam. Born on June 21, 1882, in Tarrytown, NY, he died in Plattsburgh, NY on March 13, 1971.

For a more comprehensive biography see part 1, and for earlier works see parts 1 & 2 also.

This is part 3 of a 16-part series on the works of Rockwell Kent:


1918-19 Running Water
brush and black ink, with scraping, over graphite, on ivory card 24 x 19 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, IL

1918-19 (and later reworking) To God
oil on canvas laid down on board 86.4 x 71.1 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1918-19 To God
brush and ink on off-white wove paper 17.5 x 21.9 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA


c1918-19 Landscape with Trees and Mountains
brush and black ink, scraping tool on off-white watercolour paper 18.3 x 13.2 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA



c1918 Angel
oil on glass 19 x 24.4 cm
Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio

c1918 Maid and Bird
oil on glass 24.4 x 18.7 cm
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio

1919 Alaska Drawings:


1919 Alaska Drawings of Rockwell Kent
photomechanical metal relief print with letterpress text
22.2 x 17.6 cm
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York

1919 Alaska Impression
oil on panel 29.9 x 40.6 cm

1919 Alaska Impression
oil on panel 30.2 x 40.3 cm

1919 Alaska Impression
oil on panel 30.2 x 40.6 cm

1919 Alaska Impression
oil on panel 30.5 x 35.6 cm
Private Collection

1919 Alaska Impression
oil on panel 30.5 x 35.6 cm

1919 Alaska Impression
oil on panel 30.5 x 40.6 cm

1919 Alaska
oil on panel 30.5 x 33 cm
Private Collection

1919 Alaska, Experience
oil on panel 30.5 x 35.6 cm
Private Collection

1919 Alaskan Sunrise
oil on canvas 71.1 x 111.7 cm
Museum of Art of Ogunquit, Maine

1919 Bear Glacier
oil on canvas 87.2 x 112.7 cm
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1919 Bluebird
wood engraving 14.6 x 17.5 cm

1919 Bookplate for Stephen Morgan Etnier
print on paper 9.2 x 7 cm
Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine

1919 Evening Star
brush, pen, and black ink, traces of graphite on off-white wove paper 5.1 x 12.7 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1919 In the Wild
oil on canvas 71.4 x 86.4 cm
American Museum of Western Art, Denver, CO

1919 Killer Whales in Resurrection Bay, Alaska
oil on panel 30.5 x 40.6 cm

1919 North Wind
oil on canvas laid down on panel 10.7 x 86.7 cm
The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

1919 Over Resurrection Bay, Alaska, Blue and Gold
oil on panel 30.5 x 40.3 cm
Museum of art the Bowdoin College, Brunswick

1919 Pioneers (or Into the Sun)
oil on canvas 71.1 x 112.4 cm
Museum of art the Bowdoin College, Brunswick

1919 Sunglare, Alaska
oil on canvas laid down on plywood 72 x 112 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia

1919 The Alaska Ice
oil on panel 30.5 x 40.6 cm
Private Collection

1919 from "Twelve Prints by Contemporary American Artists"
woodcut 48.3 x 35.6 cm

c1919-20 Nude Male Figure and Wing Compass
brush, pen, and black ink on off-white wove paper
 12.1 x 8.3 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1919-27 Alaska
oil on canvas  71.2 x 86.4 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, IL

1920 Alaska Impression
oil on panel 20.3 x 25.3 cm
Private Collection

1920 Bookplate for Katherine Abbott
relief print 4.6 x 3.7 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1920 Bookplate for William A. Kittredge
monochrome engraving 6.3 x 6.3 cm 
University of Delaware Library
William Augustus Brewer Bookplate Collection

1920 Father and Son
lithograph 19 x 13 cm
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum / Estate of Sally Kent Gordon

1920 Father and Son Saw Cutting Wood
wood engraving 11 x 16 cm

1920 Man Shooting an Arrow
wood engraving 10.3 x 7.3 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1920 Man under a Waterfall
wood engraving 7.1 x 3.5 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1920 "Still the Breath Divine Does Move, and the Breath Divine is Love" holiday card
relief print brush and pen and black ink over traces of graphite on cream wove paper 20.6 x 13.7 cm
 Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA


1920 Wilderness: A Journal of Quiet Adventure in Alaska by Rockwell Kent
published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York:

Hard Cover

End Papers

End Paper 1

End Paper 2

Frontispiece

Home Building

The Snow Queen

Superman

Wilderness

Woman

Foreboding

1920 The Cabin Window

1920 The Sleeper
published in Kent's Alaska journal "Wilderness."

1920 Woman
graphite on tracing paper 15.2 x 14.3 cm 1927
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1920 Woman
photomechanical reproduction 14.6 x 14 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

Wilderness
(details not found)

Fox Island, Resurrection Bay, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

I Am

Pelagic Reverie

Unknown Waters
brush and ink on off-white watercolour paper
16.8 x 24.4 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

The Star Lighter