Review
"Kent was not only a painter but a superb graphic artist, whose illustrations for "Moby-Dick" are classics; he was a writer, architect and restless explorer-adventurer who took his easel to Maine, Newfoundland, Alaska, Tierra del Fuego and Greenland....All these personas are touched upon in the exhibition "Rockwell Kent: The Mythic and the Modern" ... mounted by Jake Milgram Wien, an independent curator and art historian.... [Kent's] work can be seen for what it is, at its best, an expertly staged and orchestrated realism that is still vibrant." - The New York Times
"What makes Wien's exhibition such an interesting experience and an exciting achievement is his excellent job of accumulating known information about this artist and combining it with thoughtful discoveries.... This is a dense exhibition with an outstanding catalog that is beautifully and intelligently laid out, and full of details of Kent's life that are presented for the first time." Maine Antique Digest
"The best of this work is now on exhibit in "Rockwell Kent: The Mythic and the Modern," a stunning re-examination of an unfairly neglected American painter at the Portland Museum of Art.... The Portland exhibition makes no attempt to redeem the man -- it ignores most of the controversies, in fact -- but goes a long way toward resurrecting his reputation as a bold and innovative American painter." The Dallas Morning News
"Kent was a great American painter, exploring and trumpeting mythic American ideals. An adventurer and an outdoorsman, he pushed limits of geography and comfort for the sake of his art, wintering in Alaska and Greenland.... "Rockwell Kent: The Mythic and the Modern" makes a strong argument for restoring Kent's place in the American pantheon as a rightful heir to Winslow Homer....in reappraising Kent's work as separate from the controversy for which he became famous, "Rockwell Kent: The Mythic and the Modern" is a success." The Boston Globe
From the Inside Flap
Among the first generation of American modernist painters, Rockwell Kent (1882-1971) rose to national fame between the world wars as a visual poet of the natural world. His explorations of elemental forces of nature--glaciers, mountains, and restless seas--and his illustrated memoirs of adventure resonated with the American public. A master of many media, Kent created an oeuvre and a signature style that endure for their timeless, mythic qualities.The evolution of Kent's artistry and his engagement with modern art and ideas are the subjects of this landmark book, which accompanies an exhibition marking the centenary of his arrival on Maine's Monhegan Island in June 1905. Organized by the Portland Museum of Art, Maine, the exhibition reunites choice works not publicly seen in several generations, including many from the Pushkin and Hermitage musuems in Russia. Kent advanced his modernist vision during sojourns in Greenland, and he crossed over into popular culture through illustrations for such literary classics as Candide, Canterbury Tales, Moby Dick, and Paul Bunyan.
This extensively researched volume offers fresh insights into the spiritual and intellectual influences guiding Kent, including his early study with Arthur Wesley Dow, a key proponent of innovative theories of design and composition. It disentangles the strands of Kent's diverse stylistic achievements and exposes his double identity as Jazz Age humorist. As "Hogarth, Jr." he contributed sparkling ink drawings of modern life that captivated readers of Harper's Weekly, the New York Tribune, and Vanity Fair. Rounding out this wide-ranging study is a full list of Kent's solo exhibitions and a detailed chronology of his life.
About the Author
Jake Milgram Wien is an independent curator and historian who writes on American art between the world wars. He guest curated the exhibition Rockwell Kent: The Mythic and the Modern for the Portland (Maine) Museum of Art (summer 2005) and co-curated the exhibition American Epics: Thomas Hart Benton and Hollywood that traveled to four museums in 2015-16. In 1995 Wien wrote the catalogue for and organized the exhibition The Vanishing American Frontier for the Montclair Art Museum.
Richard V. West, who contributes the foreword, is director emeritus of the Frye Art Museum, Seattle. He collaborated with Kent on his last solo exhibition and organized the 1985 retrospective "An Enkindled Eye": The Paintings of Rockwell Kent.
