The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-11

reader must be warned that he or sne
could live in closer proximity to the
centre Of the art world than appar-
entity he or she does, for all Of US
knew that Rockwell Kent went to
Alaska as soon as he went.
In fact we keep a close watch upon
all Of his doings.
His exhibitions, within the recent
years. have been pretty we'll looked at
by his contemporaries. He has shown
paintings OF icy waters beating upon
the rocky coasts Of Maine and of the
SHOWS OF even farther north. and in
these pictures there was vigor, and
breadth. and an almost suspiciously
easy accomplishment. Then came
symbolic mystical compositions, with
curious ships on midnight seas, fierce
lights beating upon lonely cabins
where fate had Just been knocking
at the door. and consultations Of I'M
usual planets dotting all the skies. It
WAS an event to the artists friends
that he should have turned mystic.
II he had turned into something quite
different they would have followed him
with equal enthusiasm, for by this
time Rockwell Kent had secured his
friends with hoops OF steel. But no
great Juror was noticed among the
public, the buying public, and believe
Mr.. Daniels still has most Of these
weird paintings to dispose Of.
The drawings in pen and ink that
began to appear about this time Jared
no better. AS drawings they were
fully as accomplished as the snow
and marine paintings had been, but
there was a shred of an idea in each,
sometimes a poetical idea. and draw
ings with leanings toward poetry in
them, frighten our magazine editors
to death. They would none of them, in
spite II the obvious decoratjveness
and the clean lines and solid blacks
that would have made them so easy
for the engraver.
Rockwell Kent .as an illustrator
was q failure. The CONSERVATION of
the friends was great. but most of
them secretly envied the artist and
would gladly have been so interesting
failure themselves. OF course Kent
could not know this. and SO in despair
sailed away from chilly New York to
still chillier Alaska, counting the more
bearable misery. he confesses in a let
ter you shall read. Of the terrible
wilderness Of the North.
And now he has come back. The
, drawings on view at Knoedler's num-
Der about sixty. Is 1t any wonder
that the faithful evinced more thar
the usual curiosity? They went and
saw not only that the artist had
gained in power but that the curious
consultations OF stars that had been
so evident in the pictures had taken
earthly form in the shape of little
blue waters and were perching saucily
on most Of the picture frames. These
stars indicated sales" Something
psychologist had taken place. The in.
different public had melted and was
buying Rockwell Kent's drawings as
precipitantly as though they had been
baksts. Rockwell Kent, in fact, was
now to undergo the severest test OF
all-public success. It seems a time
for his friends to stick closer to him
than ever
He has wisdom. he says--you shall
read the whole letter presently-ant
l believe him. The first time I me
MIN he gave me sample of il. I
was at one Of the opening dass O
an exhibition in Mrs II. p. whitney
studio and he had been Introduce
to me by Carl Zigosser to whom tn
t present exhibition in Knoedler's ha
been dedicated. We got along YER,
well and as I was going Mrs. Fore,
came up TO us, saying, II didn't know
whether to introduce you two or no,
l didn't know what kind of notice
he gave you. What kind does he Civ
you?"
II think he gives me bad ones" re
Piled Kent, laughingly, and shakin
hands more cordially than ever.
Higher than that wisdom canno
reach. But at the same time it
easier to apply wisdom to the in
dividual than 10 the mob. Racking m
brains. I can think of no single in
stance of an artist who has been per
manently helped by fashionable an
plause. and l can think of many VIII
nave been shipwrecked by II. Shelle
said at the time when he was dom
his greatest work that he wrote 70
five or six people only. Those INV
or six are all serious artist need
L
VIII sometimes address but one.
Ii There remains word or two ths
should be said about the present col
lection OF drawings. Some of the bes
arc to be found in the series Gale
The Mad Hermit" Other subject
have been taken from Nietzsche an
from the pioneer life in Alaska. Sue
titles as Cain. Nostalgia" "ToreboC
ing" "weltschmerz," ECSTASY
Prison Bars abound. The artist ha
read the Book of Job and has probabl
been melted TO this reading not by tn
exhortations OF his spiritual advise
but by the drawings of William Blakt
He has turned over other despairin
pages and has gone out alone at Nigh
to interrogate the heavens. But for a
that tragedy has not az yet tinged n
style, and 1t is impossible to be trag
I over him or his work. Mr.. Kent's III
has not been tragic. but. on the COZ
trary, and in spite of his own word