Articles
Here we will feature articles related to Rockwell Kent. Please see our Useful Links page for links
Disclaimer: inclusion of an article on this page is not an endorsement
Discovering the Concept of “Quiet Adventure” in Alaska
Teresa Bitler
The Saturday Evening Post, January 8, 2024
Point and Counterpoint: we present 2 articles about Kent’s commission in 1965 as Set Designer for the Kirov Ballet’s production of “Peter Grimes” by Benjamin Britten
“Doing it Right: Designs for ‘Peter Grimes'”
Richard V West
Originally Published in the Rockwell Kent Review. Volume XLVI; 2020-2021
“Incompatible Interpretations of Operatic Realism: Rockwell Kent and the Kirov Theater’s Production of Peter Grimes”
Thornton Miller
Originally published in Искусство музыки: теория и история (The Art of Music: Theory and History) No 22-23 2020
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“Narrative Form & Iconographic Sequence: Rockwell Kent’s Candide (1928) in Text & Image”
Christina Ionescu
Originally published in Image & Narrative, Vol 17, No 1 (2016)
“An Evening with Rockwell Kent”
Ward Ritchie
From an article originally published in The Phi Gamma Delta Vol 56, No 6, April 1934. Additions by the Rockwell Kent forum editors
“The Eyes of the Gull”
Nancy Earle
Book review originally published in the Landfall Trust and Kent Cottage Newsletter, Fall 2021 (to download the full newsletter, go to https://landfalltrustnl.org/newsletter/ and scroll down)
“Magallanes, Magallanes”
Romy Hecht
Originally published Revista VD, El Mercurio (Santiago, Chile, 15 April 2023) (this translation reprinted courtesy of the Author and El Mercurio)
“It Occurs to Me: The end of ‘in through’ ”
Frank Galligan
Donegal Live, Oct 31, 2022
NOTE: This article may need a free registration to view. Frank Galligan talks about his cousin Christy Gillespie’s book ‘The Road to Glenlough’.
“Rockwell Kent’s Distant Shores: The Story of an Exhibition”
Constance Martin
Originally published in Arctic VOL. 55, NO. 1 (MARCH 2002)
“Feeling the Heavens”
Dr Catherine Walsh
Hill Museum and Manuscript Library Website, July 21, 2022
“Wilderness, Solitude, and Creativity: Artist and Philosopher Rockwell Kent’s Century-Old Meditations on Art and Life During Seven Months on a Small Alaskan Island”
Maria Popova
www.themarginalian.org February 15, 2022
“Inside Kent Cottage”
Heather Barrett
CBC News online Weekend AM, July 7, 2018
Addendum to above article: ” Thayer Carter – Artist in Residence 2018”
Judy Goldberg
Landfall Trust Newsletter, Fall 2021
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“The Accidental Tourist: Rockwell Kent and the great cerise whale“
Elizabeth Botten
Smithsonian Archives of American Art Blog, June 17, 2013
“No Jim Crow in the IWO’: America’s radical Depression-era mutual aid society”
Carson Robb
Peoples World, July 1, 2022
“Genesis of a Rockwell Kent Bookplate Design”
Dan Burne Jones
Adapted from an article originally published in American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers Yearbook 1969/1970
“Rockwell Kent: His Bookplate Designs”
Dan Burne Jones
Adapted from an article originally published in American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers Yearbook 1976
“Correspondence Exchanged in the Designing of a Bookplate”
Adapted from an article originally published in American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers Yearbook 1976
“Rockwell Kent at the PMA”
Amze Emmons
printeresting.org blog post, July 30, 2012
“Pine Tree” Roller-Printed Cotton & Rayon Barkcloth
Leigh Wishner
Cora Ginsburg Modern Catalogue 2021 Page 4
Included with permission of the author and Cora Ginsburg
Printing Casanova
Julie L. Mellby
Graphic Arts blog, Princeton University Library, October 17, 2011
“The Romance Of Tristan & Isolde”
Phillip R Bishop
This is a reprint of an article that appears on The Mosher Press website (thomasbirdmosher.net)
Based on an article originally published in the Rockwell Kent Review, published by the Plattsburgh State Art Museum, Plattsburgh NY, Volume XLVI, 2020-2021.
Addendum to Above Article “The Romance of Tristan & Isolde”, featuring more illustrations relating to the article
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“Come, Let Us Change Chiefs”
Will Ross
Conclusion of the Post Office Murals Controversy
Originally published in the Rockwell Kent Review, published by the Plattsburgh State Art Museum, Plattsburgh NY, Volume XLVI, 2020-2021. More items related to this article are found on the Special Collections page
“Rockwell Kent’s Striking Art Deco Angel in the 1939 U.S Christmas Seal”
Arthur H. Groten, M.D.
Originally published in Kelleher’s Stamp Collector’s Quarterly, 1st Quarter 2021, Vol VII No 1
Reprinted with permission of the author. See more about the Seal on our Special Collections page
An interesting film has surfaced, related to the above article. “On the Firing Line”, presented by the National Tuberculosis Association, ca. 1936, talks about the Christmas Seal and has film of Kent working on the G.E Mural for the 1940 New York World’s Fair. The film can be seen and downloaded on the Internet Archive – On the Firing Line : Courier Productions, Inc. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
“The Other Rockwell Kents: An Introduction”
Scott Ferris
Published on www.scottrferris.com
“Review of The Prints of Rockwell Kent: A Catalogue Raisonné”
Scott Ferris
Published on www.scottrferris.com
“The Making of a Book”
Elmer Adler
Originally published in The Dolphin, Number Two, 1935
Thanks to Mark Schlemmer for providing the PDF of this important article
“Moby Dick Goes to Moscow”
Graphic Arts Blog
Princeton University Press, posted in Acquisitions, Illustrated books on
“Rockwell Kent and Hollywood”
Jake Milgram Wien
Originally published in the Archives of American Art Journal, Volume 42, Numbers 3-4 2002
“Interpreting the Real & the Ideal: Rockwell Kent’s Bituminous Coal Series Rediscovered”
Eric J Schruers
Originally published in the Rockwell Kent Review, Volume XLIII/2017-2018
“The Concept of ‘North’ in the Works by Rockwell Kent”
Alexandra A. Sitnikova
Originally published in Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences 8 (2014 7)
Rockwell Kent & Norman Rockwell on Being Confused for Each Other!:
“On Being Famous”
Rockwell Kent
“Rockwell-Before, or After?”
Norman Rockwell
Both articles originally published in The Colophon, New Series, Volume 1, No4, Spring 1936
The only other known instance of these two artists featured together is on the back cover of Reader’s Digest for April 1944. That edition showed Easter Eggs, representing the allied nations, illustrated by famous artists of the time. Norman Rockwell and Rockwell Kent designed the USA and USSR eggs, respectively. This makes an interesting, if quirky, companion piece to the articles above.
Click here to download a PDF of the front and back covers, plus a key to the eggs and artists.
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The Farnsworth Museum Controversy: Two Viewpoints-
“The Farnsworth Museum Opens the Files on Rockwell Kent”
Henry Morlock
Originally published in The Kent Collector, Fall/Winter 2005
“Awash in Red”
Eliot H. Stanley
Originally published in The Kent Collector, Summer 2006
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“Blocks for Candide”
Julie L Mellby
Graphic Arts Blog, Princeton University Library, March 2013
“Rockwell Kent: Connecting Philately with his Art”
Arthur H. Groten M.D.
Originally published in Kelleher’s Collectors Connection, January-February 2016
“Seeking a new paradise for mankind : Rockwell Kent in Tierra del Fuego and the creation of a new national image for Chile”
Fielding D. Dupuy
Artelogie, June 2019
“The Irish Legacy of Rockwell Kent”
Anthony Glavin
Originally published in Cara, The Inflight Magazine of Aer Lingus. July/August 1987
“Early Work of Rockwell Kent”
Peggy Byrne
Adirondack Life, Spring 1970
“Rockwell Kent Reconsidered”
Richard V. West
Originally published in the American Art Review, December 1977
“The Lively Poster Arts of Rockwell Kent”
Eliot H. Stanley
Originally published in the Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, Spring 1989
“Rockwell Kent’s Country”
Marian Kester Coombs
The American Conservative, May 2014
“The Stormy Petrel of American Art”
Scott Ferris
Originally published in Smithsonian, August 2000, Volume 31, Number 5
Reprinted with Permission of the Author
“Rockwell Kent and Edward Hopper”
Jake Milgram Wien
Originally published in The Magazine Antiques, January/February 2016
“His Mind on Fire-Rockwell Kent’s Amorous Letters to Hildegarde Hirsch and Ernesta Drinker Bullitt, 1916-1925”
Jake Milgram Wien
Columbia Library Columns, Autumn 1997
“Rockwell Kent: A Force of Nature”
Paul Kennedy
Antique Trader, May 2020
“Smugglers Blue: Rex Stout, Egmont Arens, and Rockwell Kent teamed up to publish the first American edition of Casanova’s steamy Memoirs”
Chip Rowe
Fine Books and Collections, Spring 2019
“Rockwell Kent & Greenland Philately”
Will Ross
Originally published in Luren, Scandinavian Philatelic Library of Southern California, Volume 26, No. 12, December 1994
“It Started in Winona: The Personal & Professional Relationship between Carl Ruggles & Rockwell Kent”
Beth E Christensen
American Music, Volume 13, Number 1, Spring 1995
“Rockwell Kent Christmas Seal – Acclaim & Controversy”
Douglas K Lehman
American Philatelist, December 2005
“Rockwell Kent’s Egypt, Shadow and Light in Vermont”
Jamie Franklin
www.incollect.com (First published in Antiques & Fine Art Magazine, Summer, 2012)
“Print Nostalgia: Skeuomorphism and Rockwell Kent’s Woodblock Style”
Jamie L. Jones
www.journals.uchicago.edu – University of Chicago Press Journals (First Published in American Art – SAAM, Volume 31, Number 3, Fall 2017)
“The Archetypal Landscapes Of Rockwell Kent”
Jake Milgram Wien
www.incollect.com (First Published in Antiques & Fine Art Magazine, Late Summer, 2005)
“The Stormy Petrel of American Art”
Frederick Lewis
www.amscan.org – Website of The American-Scandinavian Foundation (First Published in Scandinavian Review, Summer 2012)
“Rockwell Kent Valentines”
Robert Rightmire
Valentine Writer, Volume 40, Number 2, Summer 2016
“Illuminated Critique: the Kent Moby-Dick”
Matthew Jeffrey Abrams
Word & Image , Volume 33, 2017 – Issue 4
“At Home Among Strangers: U.S. Artists, the Soviet Union, and the Myth of Rockwell Kent during the Cold War.”
Kiril Chunikhin
JOURNAL OF COLD WAR STUDIES, Vol. 21, No.4, Fall 2019
“The National Council of American-Soviet Friendship and Art in the Shadow of the Cold War”
Julia Tatiana Bailey
ARCHIVES OF AMERICAN ART JOURNAL, Vol. 56, No.1
“A Call for Liberty: Rockwell Kent’s Puerto Rico Mural
Sarah Gordon
ARCHIVES OF AMERICAN ART JOURNAL, Vol. 58, No.2
“Come, Let us Change Chiefs”
Will Ross
Originally published in the Rockwell Kent Review, published by the Plattsburgh State Art Museum, Plattsburgh NY, 45th edition, 2019-2020
“The Brigus Spy”
Edward Roberts
Originally published in the Kent Collector, published by the Plattsburgh State Art Museum, Plattsburgh NY, 38th edition, Volume 2, summer 2012
“The Great German Spy of Brigus”
Will Ross
Originally published in the Kent Collector, published by the Plattsburgh State Art Museum, Plattsburgh NY, 38th edition, Volume 2, summer 2012
“A Matter of Privilege”
Will Ross
Originally published in the Kent Collector, published by the Plattsburgh State Art Museum, Plattsburgh NY, 27th edition, Volume 2, summer 2001
“The Eternal Struggle: Rockwell Kent and Advertising”
Will Ross
Originally published in the Kent Collector, published by the Plattsburgh State Art Museum, Plattsburgh NY, 25th edition, summer 1999
“The Great Debate”
Will Ross
Originally published in the Kent Collector, published by the Plattsburgh State Art Museum, Plattsburgh NY, 25th edition, summer 1999
“Kent Works in Utah Museum”
Will Ross
Originally published in the Kent Collector, published by the Plattsburgh State Art Museum, Plattsburgh NY, summer 1991
“The Case of the Missing Lecturer”
Will Ross
Originally published in the Kent Collector, published by the Plattsburgh State Art Museum, Plattsburgh NY, summer 1991