Rockwell Kent - part 12

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 - 11 also. This is part 12 of a 16-part series on the works of Rockwell Kent:

1935-37 Grey Day
oil on canvas laid down on panel 86.4 x 113 cm

1935-37 May, North Greenland
oil on canvas 111.7 x 139.7 cm
Art Museum of the University of Plattsburgh

1935-41 Arrival of the Post
oil on canvas 101.6 x 162.6 cm
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia

c1935 The Morning of Life
black crayon, gouache, brush, pen and ink on off-white laid paper 23.2 x 14.9 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1936 And Now Where
lithograph 34.9 x 25.4 cm

1936 Beauty and Protection
Advertisement for Sherwin-Williams Paints

1936 Beauty and Protection
Advertisement for Sherwin-Williams Paints

c1936 Beauty and Protection
Advertisement for Sherwin-Williams Paints

1936 Good-night, good-night! from Romeo and Juliet
ink on wove paper 28.5 x 21.6 cm

c1936 Arkansas Centennial, Workers' Defense League
photomechanical relief print 4 x 4 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1937 And Women must Weep
lithograph 26.7 x 19.7 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1937 Bookplate for The Library of Congress Rare Book Collection
steel engraving 7.6 x 4.9 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, US

1937 Eskimo Mother and Child
lithograph 24.6 x 33.7 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA

1937 Flurry, Greenland
oil on canvas laid down on plywood 86 x 111 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia

1937 Jesus and Joseph
ink on paper 29.8 x 39.1 cm
Private Collection

1935 Salamina by Rockwell Kent, published bu Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York:

Dust Jacket

Artwork: pen and ink, pencil and charcoal on art board 24.5 x 34.6 cm

"This is Salamina - apparently hanging out noting but a clothes pin...."

"This is Regina - and she will maybe never get used her fine things."

"This is Justina - and she might some day have appeared if amauts and loving your baies that much had not gone out of fashion."

"And this - is Anna."

"This is Jörn - dressed in the pants of a white whale or a Greenland Colony Manager."

"A Kayaker"

"Mala -  poor old half crazy thing - fine artist"
(see earlier work below)

1933 Mala (Danseuse)
lithograph on paper 28.8 x 25.2 cm
Smithsonian American Art Museum

"This is Sahra - wife of Isaac, mother of Abraham, Johan, and Martin, sister of Elisabeth the wife of Jonas."

"This is Karen - David's wife; but one day when she when she was doing just this - skinning a seal..."

"This is a kayaker in his full jacket. It looks as if I didn't know the anatomy of hands: the Greenland mittens have two thumbs."

"This is David - walking on thin ice. He is married to Karen. He has no fear of death."

This is Pauline, the Arctic lark. the Eve of Karrat - just a little bit idealized."

"This is Beate - whose love I once declined. How she could dance!"

"This is an old girl promenading. If she didn't hold on to her pants they'd come off. Modest old girl."

"This is a hunter -winter style: reindeer above, dog skin below, mittens of seal."

"This is the dear old wife of Paria Amossen, bringing water to make coffee for him."

"Our "Heroine between the lines" does as one does in Rome."

"And here is Olabi, gamboling as was his fancy."

"And there are lots like her!"

"Young lady looking for trouble"

"And though she has had to wait till winter time, she has found it."

1936 Leaves  of Grass by Walt Whitman, published by The Heritage Press, New York:

Front Cover

Frontispiece and Title Page

End Papers

Hard cover of a 1943 edition

1937 End of the World series, Life magazine:

No.1 - Lunar Disintegration
lithograph 30.5 x 25.4 cm

No.1 Lunar Disintegration
lithograph

No. 2 - Solar Fade-Out
lithograph 30.5 x 25.4

Solar Fade Out
lithograph 33.2 x 25.7 cm (image)

No.3 - Solar Flare Up
lithograph 30.5 x 25.4 cm

Solar Flare Up
lithograph 30.6 x 25.7 cm

Degravitation
lithograph 30.5 x 25.4 cm (image)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
© Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA