Rockwell Kent

American (1882-1971)

Born in New York, Kent studied architecture at Columbia University but left the program to devote himself to his artistic studies. He studied with William Merritt Chase in Shinnecock, as well as with Robert Henri at the New York School of Art. Kent made his first visit to Monhegan Island, off the coast of Maine, in 1905, one of the first of Henri’s students to do so. For the next five years, Kent returned to the island, drawn to its rugged scenery and the dramatic interplay of the land and sea. Kent also visited many other northern locales, such as Newfoundland, Alaska, Greenland and the Adirondacks. His paintings are often austere yet beautifully and precisely rendered. Kent was also a printmaker, illustrator and draftsman as well as a political activist and author. His works are often identified with the social realist movement yet there is also a level of symbolism evident in many of his works. His prints in particular deal with the struggle of mankind in an effort to understand the universe and discover the reasons for existence In the 1920s and 30s Kent was one of the preeminent American printmakers. He was a member of the National Academy of Design, Woodstock Art Association, Society of Illustrators and the Society of Independent Painters, and his works are in the collections of the Hermitage in Russia, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Colby Museum of Art, Waterville, ME, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC and many others.