MAY 6 - 11, 2019 - THE KNOEDLER GALLERY EXHIBIT OF ROCKWELL KENT'S ALASKA DRAWINGS
ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL
100 YEARS LATER
by Doug Capra © 2018-19
May 6 - 11, 2019
ABOVE – “Victory”—one of Rockwell’s Alaska drawings reproduced
in the May 18, 1919 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. BELOW – Text of the
review accompanying “Victory.”
Rockwell Kent has been back in New York for a few weeks now. The
crowds, the noise and the grime irritate him. The world again, he wrote in his autobiography nearly 30 years
later. But what a world for travelers from
Utopia to come to! From the wide open spaces of big Alaska, as Rockwell had observed it to be, to the tight shut
spaces, the stone canyons, of little New York; from the status of Man dwelling
in the presence of God, we shrank to that of insects in the hive of Mammon.
Some of his friends who had studied with him under Robert Henri –
they could paint the alleys and ashcans of the city if they wished – but not
Kent. Bellows, Hopper and Sloan – they would go their way and he would go his. He
was frustrated and not as sure as some have speculated that his Alaska work
would be successful. From his writing desk 35 years later while penning It’s Me O Lord, he sees his life from a
future stance just as we do. Of course, his Alaska venture was a success. It
was bound to be. It had to be. He had willed it so. Even back in 1919, part of
him had to believe that all the effort he had put in on Fox Island had been
worth it, especially during those last weeks when the light finally arrived and
he could work on his painting. As Zigrosser suggested, if he had lost
confidence in himself his world would have fallen apart. All the personal agony
he had suffered through with Kathleen – it had to have been worth something. But
the letters indicate another part of him eating at his soul gave him doubts.
Would the Alaska adventure turn into another financial failure like
Newfoundland? Would Kathleen believe he had changed, forgive him and work with
him to improve their relationship? Would she build a wall of thorns around him –
he would help her, he promised – to keep him from the temptations of the flesh?
This is probably what went through his mind during that first month at home
while preparing for the Knoedler exhibit. And there was the money issue, too.
It seems that Kathleen had taken up Dr. Theodore Wagner’s offer
of patronage and accepted $1000 of the $2000 he had offered to keep Rockwell in
Alaska through the spring. She had probably needed it to keep the children fed
and the rent paid. That left the family in debt. Charles Daniel, gallery owner,
had found Ferdinand Howald to back Kent in Alaska, and Howald added a Berkshire
painting to others he had purchased. That gave Kent some funds. Marie Sterner
enticed critic Christian Brinton to examine Kent’s Alaska drawings, and he
agreed to sponsor the artist’s show at the Knoedler Gallery. “Just give me a
few notes on your life and work in Alaska,” he told Kent. “I’ll need them for
my introduction.”
BELOW – A draft of one of the first typed versions (page 1) of the above letter. Letters from the Archives of American Arts, Smithsonian Institute.
Meanwhile Zigrosser and Chappell had been working to help Kent become
incorporated by seeking investors to buy stock in the artist. This would give
him a salary to allow him to work on his art.
BELOW – Rockwell Kent, Inc.
Kent quickly mounted and framed his black and white drawings for
an exhibition that opened a month after his return. The paintings would have to
wait because most weren’t finished. The sixty drawings on display fascinated
and excited both the critics and the public. Almost all sold. Four were Rockie’s
contributions, and artist Arthur B. Davies purchased them. A reviewer in the
May 11, 1919 New York Sun commented
that…tragedy has not yet tinged his
style, and it is impossible to be tragic over him or his work. Mr. Kent’s life
has not been tragic, but on the contrary, and in spite of his own words, it has
been distinctly larkish. One could argue that some of Kent’s Newfoundland
paintings demonstrated how tragedy influenced him. And if that particular
critic had read the letters between Kathleen and Rockwell, he might have understood
more about Kent’s inner demons – even if the artist’s personal behavior had
itself enticed those devastating attacks.
BELOW -- "Immanence" from Rockwell Kent's Mad Hermit Series.
ABOVE – Full page article by Henry McBride in the May 11, 1919
New York Herald. BELOW – The full section within the article about Rockwell
Kent.
Kent was clear in his letters that the illustrated journals he
dispatched from Fox Island were not only for Rockie’s benefit as a memoir – but
also as a record of the “quiet adventure” for his family and friends. Still, during
his earlier struggles to earn a living Kent had considered getting into writing.
He had the talent and the drive. It’s reasonable to surmise that the purpose of
Kent’s illustrated journals went beyond simple family history. Other painters
wrote books. In 1919, an English language edition of Paul Gauguin’s Noa Noa, his Tahiti journal, was
published. Indeed, when Wilderness
came out in 1920, at least one critic compared it with Gauguin’s book. While
the exhibit was up at Knoedler’s, the story goes, a young bookman and
publisher, Egmont Arens, suggested to Kent that the drawings be quickly taken
down a few at a time and engraved for publication as a book -- before the
buyers left with them. Arens had a press and offered to publish it in an elegant
limited-edition format. Kent saw possibilities for some text. Enter Rockwell’s
old friend George Putnam who had spent time as a journalist in Oregon,
returning home now to join the family business at G.P. Putnam’s Sons. He
convinced Kent the book should be more accessible to the general public as a
trade edition. Arens was generous. Realizing the book deserved a broader audience,
he agreed. Putnam suggested more text, so Rockwell gathered his letters and
journals as a draft.
BELOW -- From the May 13, 1919 New York Tribune.
Kathleen remembered her husband’s promise to get out the city in
search of a perfect New England rural paradise far away from the noise, crowds
and temptations. Now they had some cash from sales. The reviews were excellent.
Kent was finally getting some attention. The drawings were a great success and
there was great anticipation to see the paintings. Thanks to all this, Kent
wrote in his autobiography, we found
ourselves in the early summer of 1919 not only out of debt but, with two
thousand and some hundreds of dollars in the bank…
He and Kathleen could now go searching for their new home. As he
had suggested, it could be an old farm that needed repairs. Rockwell was
confident of his carpentry skills. There he could try to recapture the best
elements of his Fox Island experience, finish the paintings and put together his
Alaska book. Alaska was still on his mind. He did hope to return. Would he
still be welcomed in Seward despite that offensive series of newspaper articles
just before he left? Probably. He had made many friends, and they wouldn’t
abandon him. And what about old Olson? The old Swede wasn’t in the best health
and he was lonely. He had grieved at the departure of Kent and Rockie. Maybe
Rockwell could get the old man to join him in at their new home. The two would
not lose touch during this time. Kent would write to him from the East Coast, and
Olson would write back.
The information for this entry came from Kent’s letters, his
autobiography It’s Me O Lord (1955), and David Traxel’s An American Saga: The
Life and Times of Rockwell Kent (1980). The opinions and speculations are my
own.
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