July 27-29, 2018

ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL
100 YEARS LATER
by Doug Capra © 2018

“In retrospect, what a reckless adventure our expedition to Alaska appears to have been!”

So wrote American artist Rockwell Kent nearly forty years after his adventure ended.

This month marks the 100th anniversary of Kent’s journey to Alaska with his 8-year-old son and their stay on Fox Island in Resurrection Bay about 12 miles south of the town of Seward. He told the story with the publication of Wilderness: A Journal of Quiet Adventure in Alaska in 1920, considered an Alaska classic. But he didn’t tell us everything. The adventure wasn’t as “quiet” as he made it out to be. I’ll get into some of that because…

I’ll be following Kent’s journey week by week, maybe day by day, looking back upon it from 100 years later. Some reading this may know about Rockwell Kent. A few may be ardent fans. Others may know about me and my 40-year quest to learn more about this artist and his Alaska trips -- his sketches, paintings, letters, photographs and writings.

Some of these entries may be excerpts from the book I’m writing – That Infinite and Unfathomable Thing: Rockwell Kent’s Alaska Wilderness. Other entries will be based on future and many dozen past visits I’ve made to Fox Island. I’ll try to place Kent’s 1918-19 sojourn into historical context: What was happening in Seward, Alaska, in the U.S. and around the world during that time and how did it influence Kent’s experience? I will incorporate a few scenes from my play (still in progress) based upon this period in Kent’s life. It’s called And Now the World Again (the last words in Wilderness). Notice “based upon.” As with any historical drama, I’ve taken some liberties, but only enough license to better visualize the truth. Some Kent scholars may disagree with my interpretation. I’m always open to debate and elucidation.

I’m beginning this blog on my Facebook page, but soon I hope to move it to a separate page. I encourage responses, comment and questions. Keep in mind, though, that I’m not writing a biography of Kent. If you have questions about his past that don’t directly connect with Alaska I may refer you to a source.

I would ask all those reading this to share this page so the blog can be made available to many others. Please spread the word for me.

Meanwhile, 100 years ago today -- in late July – Rockwell Kent II, and his son Rockwell Kent III (Rocky) are heading west from New York on the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Great War was raging on with U.S. troops involved in brutal combat. We had entered the war in April 1917. On board Kent met soldiers returning from the front in France, whose stories of the war’s horrors captivated him and validated his opposition to the conflict. He was a pacifist and a socialist who had been tossed out of Newfoundland with his growing family a few years earlier for pro-German sentiments. That’s a story unto itself. Tomorrow I venture to Fox Island with my wife, Cindy, to do some research -- courtesy of Kenai Fjords Tours. More on Kent's train journey tomorrow.

PHOTOS 1 & 2 courtesy of the Rockwell Kent Gallery, Plattsburgh State University, Plattsburgh, N.Y.

1. Rockwell Kent circa 1918
2. Kent’s son, Rocky 1918
3. Doug Capra standing at the ruins of the Kent cabin on Fox Island