Rockwell Kent "Wilderness" Centennial Journal

ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL 100 YEARS LATER by Doug Capra © 2018 December 10, 11, 12, 2018 North Wind, 1919 Oil on canvas mounted on board 41 1/4 x 34 1/8 in. Tuesday, December 10, 1918 Another fiercely cold day – with that ferocious north wind. He accomplishes little, but in the back of his mind is yesterday’s idea for a new painting -- an homage to the North Wind. “Surely after the past four days,” Kent writes, “I may tell with authority of that wild Prince of the North.” Today he visits Olson and is charmed by what he sees. “There he sits near the stove, a black astrakham cap on his head and the two female goats in full possession of the cabin. Nanny, the milch goat is a most affectionate creature. She lays her head on Olson’s lap and as he scratches her head her eyes close in blissful content. “See her pretty little face and her lovely lips,” Kent reports Olson’s words to him and adds “He’s certainly the kindest creature to anima...

ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL 100 YEARS LATER by Doug Capra © 2018 December 7, 8, 9, 2018 The three peaks of Fox Island lighted by the sun at 11:45 a.m. on Wednesday, December 12, 2018. Capra photo. "Three AM is eternal. Three AM is infernal. It's the hour of the wolf. The time at which fear and sadness and regret rack up so that it becomes impossible to get to sleep. Insomnia and self-pity: it's a recipe for hysteria,  for wild, lunging desperation...The silent night amplifies the din in our skulls, returns us to a primal solitude."       Sukhdev Sandhu in Night Haunts: A Journey Through the London Night.       London: Verso Books, 2007. Late evening, Saturday, December 7, 1918          The Kathleen-Hildegarde Saga continues: Kent has already written one letter on this day to his wife which I discussed in the last entry. Now he writes another as midnight...