Rockwell Kent

The American painter and illustrator Rockwell Kent (1882-1971) fitted into the realist tradition that was a revolutionary force early in the 20th century and then gradually developed a stylized approach to subjects taken from the working class.

Born in Tarrytown Heights, N.Y., on June 21, 1882, Rockwell Kent studied architecture at Columbia University. However, he became a painter, studying with William Merritt Chase, Robert Henri, and others. A socialist from an early age, he apparently saw his work as growing out of a general socialist respect for workers. He was deeply involved in the agitation against the National Academy of Design led by Henri and John Sloan and was an exhibitor in the famous Armory Show of 1913. This was the limit of his commitment to revolutionary art, however, for the workers he idealized in his paintings and drawings were usually outdoorsmen and other solitary types—trappers, fishermen, and other such individualists—rather than the urban, assembly-line workers most often thought of as the subject of socialist concern.

Kent was a remarkable man. Perhaps because of his political beliefs, but probably out of some deeper feeling for reality, he worked at various times in his life as a lobsterman and carpenter along the coast of Maine and as a ship's carpenter. He lived in Alaska, Newfoundland, and Greenland, drawing many of his best-known pictures of the people and their activities there. In a small boat he explored the waters off the southern tip of South America.

Kent wrote and illustrated Wilderness (1920) and Voyaging Southward (1924), which many critics consider the best American books ever produced in terms of harmonious balance between text and pictures. Along with Fritz Eichenberg, Kent is as responsible as any artist for the high level of American book illustration during the first half of the 20th century. His illustrations, like his paintings, often create a mood of loneliness and a sense of man's small resources against the might of nature. Among the authors he illustrated are Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Herman Melville. He died on March 13, 1971, at the age of 88.

Further Reading

The best source of information on Kent and his art is his own works. In addition to the two mentioned in the text see Rockwellkentiana, written in collaboration with Carl Zigrosser (1933); This Is My Own (1940); and It's Me O Lord (1955), an autobiography. Richard Williamson Ellis, Book Illustration (1952), includes a discussion of Kent.

Additional Sources

Kent, Rockwell, It's me, O Lord: the autobiography of Rockwell Kent, New York: Da Capo Press, 1977, 1955.

Traxel, David, An American saga: the life and times of Rockwell Kent, New York: Harper & Row, 1980. □

Kent, Rockwell (1882–1971). American painter, graphic artist, and writer, born at Tarrytown Heights, New York. He began to train as an architect at Columbia University but dropped out of the course to study painting, his teachers including Chase and Henri. His preference was for scenes of the great outdoors, painted in a vivid, dramatic style with strong contrasts of light and shade. They reflected his own lifestyle, for he loved exploring remote areas (including Alaska, Greenland, and Tierra del Fuego) and early in his career he supported himself by working at such jobs as lobsterman and ship's carpenter. His pictures appealed to the American pioneer spirit and by the 1920s he was one of the country's most popular artists. However, he had outspoken left-wing political sympathies and at the time of the anti-Communist witch-hunts in the 1940s and 1950s he was dogged by various investigating committees. He was chairman of the National Council for American-Soviet Friendship and in 1967 was presented with the International Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet government; he gave the award money to the people of North Vietnam. Kent illustrated numerous books, including his own accounts of his travels, such as Wilderness (1920). His other writings include an autobiography, It's Me, O Lord (1955).

Kent, Rockwell (b Tarrytown, NY, 21 June 1882; d Ausable Forks, NY, 13 Mar. 1971). American painter, graphic artist, and writer. His preference was for scenes of the great outdoors, painted in a vivid, dramatic style with strong contrasts of light and shade. They reflected his own lifestyle, for he loved exploring remote areas (including Alaska, Greenland, and Tierra del Fuego) and early in his career he supported himself by working at such jobs as lobsterman and ship's carpenter. His pictures appealed to the American pioneer spirit and by the 1920s he was one of the country's most popular artists. However, he had outspoken left-wing political sympathies and at the time of the anti-Communist witch hunts in the 1940s and 1950s he was dogged by various investigating committees. He was chairman of the National Council for American-Soviet Friendship and in 1967 was awarded the International Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet government; he gave the money part of the award to the people of North Vietnam. Kent illustrated numerous books, including his own accounts of his travels, such as Wilderness (1920). His other writings include an autobiography, It's Me, O Lord (1955).

Rockwell Kent 1882–1971, American painter, muralist, wood engraver, lithographer, book and magazine illustrator, and writer, b. Tarrytown, N.Y. Kent studied with William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri . He lived in Labrador, Alaska, Greenland, and Tierra del Fuego and painted vigorous, exotic landscapes during his travels. His graphic art and his painting are notable for their stark, powerful style. Among his major works are Winter (Metropolitan Mus.), Down to the Sea (Brooklyn Mus.), and Toilers of the Sea (Art Inst., Chicago). He is the author of Wilderness (1921), Voyaging Southward from the Strait of Magellan (1924), Salamina (1935), Greenland Journal (1962), the autobiographical This Is My Own (1940), and the autobiography It's Me, O Lord (1955).

Bibliography: See biography by D. Traxel (1980); catalogs by C. Martin (2000) and J. M. Wien (2005).

Kent, Rockwell (1882–1971), New York author and artist, whose books, illustrated by himself, are accounts of sea voyages and residences in the Arctic and South America. They include Wilderness (1920), concerning his experiences in Alaska; Voyaging Southward from the Strait of Magellan (1924), about his journey to Tierra del Fuego; N by E (1930) and Salamina (1935), dealing with his life in Greenland; and This Is My Own (1940) and It's Me, O Lord (1955), autobiography. In addition to illustrations for many books, he is known for his work as a painter, primarily of landscapes distinguished for a use of simple masses of color, and as a pen‐and‐ink artist and lithographer who uses a striking, stark line in a highly stylized manner.

Kent, Rockwell (1882–1971) US painter, author and illustrator whose pictorial works won great popularity for their vivid portrayal of the wilderness. He wrote and illustrated several books, notably Wilderness (1920), Voyaging Southward (1924) and Greenland Journal (1962).