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 - 14 also. This is part 15 of a 16-part series on the works of Rockwell Kent:
1949 The Decameron:
1949 The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio published by Garden City Publishing Co., New Jersey |
Title Page |
...many people died... |
...servants of their bellies... |
... a great and famous doctor... |
...seeing nothing but the waves... |
...herself often invited him... |
...she...tore open her clothes... |
...she showed the Sultan...that she was a woman... |
...she came upon Masetto... |
...and locked the door... |
..saw him climbing out of the tomb... |
...about fourteen and very simple minded... |
Guiscardo...prepared a rope with knots... |
...he threw himself into the water... |
...she wept over him... |
...the girl emerged from the hay... |
...two mastiffs...snapping cruelly at her... |
...very much in love... |
...after long and dreary waiting... |
...laid her upon the chest... |
...they both entered the bath together... |
...they found the two lovers... |
...keeping her hands on his shoulders... |
...seized him by the band... |
...saw him ride by... ----------------------------------------------------- |
1950 Summer Day, Asgor oil on canvas 86 x 112 cm The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia |
1950 The Storm oil on canvas 86 x 112 cm The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia |
c1950 Village at Night oil on panel 30.5 x 40.6 cm |
c1950 Whitehead, Monhegan oil on panel 30.5 x 40.6 cm Monhegan Museum of Art & History, Maine |
c1950 Wreck, Monhegan oil on panel 19.1 x 34.9 cm |
1951 Merry Christmas lithograph 33 x 22.9 cm (image) Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA © Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA |
1951 The Smith Act lithograph 34.9 x 24.8 cm (image) Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA © Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, USA |
1952 Mount Assiniboine, Canadian Rockies oil on canvas 81 x 87 cm The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia |
1954 Rapids on the River Oabl, Adirondack oil on canvas 86 x 111 cm The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow |
1955 Blue Day, Man, Monhegan oil on canvas 72 x 112 cm The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow |
1955 Lobster Catcher oil on canvas 72 x 112 cm The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia |
1955 Manx Fog, Monhegan oil on canvas 86 x 112 cm The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow |
1955 The Sun Over the Sea, Man, Monhegan oil on canvas 86 x 112 cm The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow |
1955 Young Spruce, The Coast of Maine oil on canvas 71 x 112 cm |
c1955 Golden Fall oil on canvas 71.1 x 86.4 cm |
c1955 Maine Headland oil on canvas 51 x 61 cm Farnsworth Art Museum, Maine |
1956 Child Under a Tree, Virginia oil on canvas 71.1 x 86.4 cm H.V. Allison Galleries, New York |
1956 Croquet Game oil on canvas 71.8 x 86.4 cm |
1956 Garden at Oak Ridge, Virginia oil on canvas 69.8 x 85.4 cm |
1959 Adirondack Farm, Winter oil on canvas 87 x 112 cm The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow |
1960 Red Evening, Sunset, the View from Ashore oil on canvas 87 x 112 cm The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow |
1960 The River Sable, Winter oil on canvas 72 x 100 cm The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia |
1960 The Road to Ashore oil on canvas 86 x 112 cm The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia |
c1960-65 Untitled (“Asgaard,” the farm of Sally and Rockwell Kent) oil on canvasboard 37.8 x 45.7 cm |
c1960 Mountain Road oil on canvas Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, New York |
1961 Whiteface Mountain, Asgaard oil on panel 50.8 x 61 cm Private Collection |
c1961-62 Ancient Elm oil on canvas 86.4 x 111.8 cm |
1965 Evening Landscape, Bales of Hay oil on canvas 87.6 x 112.3 cm |
1965 Meadows and Mountains, Asgaard oil on canvas laid down on plywood 124.3 x 189 cm The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow |