The USSR was incredibly important to Kent. He travelled there many times during the 1950’s and 1960’s and made long and fast friendships with many ordinary Russians, as well as artists and film makers. On this page, we will bring you a variety of articles and other material relating to the Soviet Union and Kent’s travels there.
Introduction to Pacifica Radio Interview: “Art in the Soviet Union”
by Will Ross
Rockwell Kent was feeling pretty good when he was interviewed on Pacifica Radio in October 1958. His personal situation was vastly different than when he was interviewed by John Wingate in 1957 on Nightbeat. A transcript of that interview is also available on The Rockwell Kent Forum, on the Special Collections page. In 1957 Kent was in the middle of his battle with the State Department over his inability to obtain a passport. That fact had prevented him from attending the opening of his one-man show at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. The show was an overwhelming success, as shown in this contemporary Soviet newsreel footage (Note: the narration is in Russian)
In June 1958 the Supreme Court decided that the State Department did not have the authority to deny a citizen a passport based on political views. Shortly afterward Kent was on a ship headed to Europe and, eventually, Russia. He stayed there six weeks, and was treated like a rock star.
Upon Kent’s return he immediately embarked on a nationwide publicity tour giving speeches celebrating the 25th anniversary of the United States diplomatic recognition of the Soviet Union in 1933. Eventually the tour brought him to San Francisco where he was interviewed at the studios of Pacifica Radio in San Francisco. The interview, though ostensibly about art in the Soviet Union, covers many areas of the art world both in the Soviet Union and the United States. While politics is discussed, it is not the centerpiece of the interview. The host of the interview was Elsa Knight Thompson, documentarian and long-time program director of Pacifica Radio. The other guests were three well-known Bay area artists: Emmy Lou Packard, Victor Arnautoff, and Glenn Wessels. The interview lasts about an hour and the recording is in excellent condition. It is a fascinating historical document, well worth a listen. If you don’t see the video below, it is available on YouTube© – https://youtu.be/SglytJxHe6g
This interview is available online exclusively on The Rockwell Kent Forum, licensed through the courtesy of Pacifica Radio Archives (pacificaradioarchives.org). All rights reserved.
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“The Journey to the USSR gave start to the Most Important Period of my Life”
Extracts from “Meeting the Past. Artistic Life in Documents from the Central State Archive of Literature and Arts of the USSR”, vol.6, Moscow, Soviet Russia Publishers, 1988, p.332-357. Translated and annotated by Dmitry (Mitya) Kiselev.