Rockwell Kent "Wilderness" Centennial Journal

RCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL 100 YEARS LATER by Doug Capra © 2018 Dec. 3-4, 2018 Still in Seward PHOTO Top row from left: Kent as a child, photo inscribed to his daughter, Kathleen, in 1933; Auntie Josie Banker, Kent's mother's aunt. Kent's mother was raised beginning at age 11 by her Aunt Josie and husband, James Banker on their estate in Irvington, N.Y.  Banker was a wealth capitalist connected with the Vanderbilts; Kent's father, Rockwell Kent I, died when Rockwell II was five yeas old. He's shown here with his flute which Rockwell inherited, learned to play, and took with him on all his adventures. Bottom row from left: Kent's mother, Sara Ann (Holgate) Kent with 3-year-old Rockwell at left and his brother, Douglas at right; young Rockwell; Sara's sister, Kent's Aunt Jo, an artist herself who took Kent to Europe for four months when he was 13 years old. In addition to Kent's Austrian nanny, Rosa,  (not sho...

ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL 100 YEARS LATER by Doug Capra © 2018 Nov. 29-Dec. 4, 2018 Part 3 Kent’s visit to Seward between Nov. 30 th and Dec. 4 th represents a turning point for him in many ways – both positive and negative. During the last three months he’s met many in Seward. Gradually they’ve gotten to know him, and by the December trip some acquaintances turn to friendships. Rockie makes many friends, too. They now stay at private homes and get dinner invitations, saving them money. They become close to the Don Carlos Brownell family, and stay at his home with its “great fireplace…and fine phonograph.” In 1918 the house sits by the mountain edge on the southwest bank of Lowell Creek. As a favor, Kent sets a door frame for Brownell. In later years, Kent maintaines this friendship with a correspondence. Many now provide the artist inside advice about what and where to paint. He renews his friendship with Postmaster Root and his family....