This guy scares me. The talent is immeasurable, beyond anyone's wildest dreams. I saw one of his original black and white illustrations on display at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and it blew me away. I have never again seen anything so clean and controlled, a masterpiece of craftsmanship.
His subjects scare me, too. For the most part, they are grim and seem driven to hysteria. But then they are exquisitely rendered. I'll get to his landscapes which are thankfully beautiful and not unsettling, but for now I'll begin with the man himself, in an undated photo of him at work, probably in the early 1930s.
Spartan digs for the painter who sits on what looks to be an old thumb-back kitchen chair. Click on images to enlarge them.
Rockwell Kent, Portrait of me (improved) 1923
Rockwell Kent, self portrait, lithograph, 1934
This is rendered in a style I'll call Deified Fascist (for want of a better name) reminiscent of portraits and busts of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini produced by and for their admirers. What makes it strange is that Kent was alleged to be an ardent admirer of the Soviet political system.
Rockwell Kent, Thomas Maitland Cleland, Portrait Lithograph, 1929
This was used opposite the title page of The Decorative Work of T.M. Cleland, who was a very famous type designer for the American Type Foundry in the heyday of metal type composition. Also scary.
Editing and much more to come. I've just begun.
He looks a little badass in the photo. I have a book by Kent, N by E,
which he illustrated with wood engravings. Quite the artist.
Posted by: Jil Casey | March 10, 2013 at 12:14 AM