Evening star., 1937-10-16
By Leila M@hlin.
( OCKWELL KENTs two mural


spectively, mail service in
Il \ Greenland and in Puerto Rico
lately installed in the south lobby on
the second floor of the Post Office De-
partment Building, have aroused a
veritable tempest in teapot not on
account Of artistic inferiority. which
might have been reasonable, but be-
cause of an item introduced into one
OF these canvases which has been
thought to have political significance.
In the Puerto Rican scene the mail
carrier, mounted on horse, occupies
the center Of the composition. From
receptacle resembling a bread box
but marked ~. S. Mail" he has ap-
parently just delivered to a native girl
letter which she holds open but in
differently in her hand The text of
this letter is in the Eskimo language.
known to but few. but being translated
is found to propose an exchange of
rulers between Greenland and Puerto
Rico. Herein lies the cause of the
disturbance.
Mr.. Kent is not politician nor is
he propagandist. He is an artist first
and last, and artists today, of lively
mind, as in the past must OCCASION
ally have their little joke. Obviously
these murals were not produced to
convey a political message Primarily
they were to decorate a public build
ing dedicated to the carriage and de-
livery of mail. Mr.. Kents joke was.
undoubtedly. ill-timed, but it is great
ly to be regretted that a mere incident
of composition may SO outweigh in
public opinion the artistic significance
OF the work
Still more unfortunate. however, is
the fact that these paintings fall far
short of the artists best and but feeo-
ly represent the high achievement of
which he is capable They are almost
IN monotone, monotonous, dull. gray
blue. In the Greenland scene and in
that in Puerto Rico, the light is iden-
tically the same, equally cold, cheer
less and Ineffective. And yet, without
question Rockwell Kent is one of the
outstanding artists of today most
gifted, most individual most worthy
OF place in our artistic hierarchy.
THE sketches that Mr.. Kent first
made and submitted when COM
missioned to do these murals. we're
very different in composition and in
spirit from the completed works. The
governmental authorities who passed
upon the sketches did not find them
cfa od
certain changes, but none who can
see the sketches and paintings side
by side will deny that the sketches had
vastly more character, color and spirit
than the finished works, which, how
ever, it is understood, have been ap-
proved by the Commission of Fine
Arts, fully and gladly"
OF course, there is the possibility
that between the making of the orig
inal sketches and the production of the
finished works the artist lost inspira-
ton 1t is possible also that from the
frst, inspiration burned low. For
Rockwell Kent is not man to produce
to order Almost all that ne has done,
and certainly the best ne has done.
has been the outcome or the express
sion of stirring adventures. Art" he
himself once said, sis the by-product
of ones enthusiasm for Life" And it
Is his conviction that no artist ever
looked for material, whether it was
mountains for picture or love af-
fair for book"
As almost every one knows. Rockwell
Kent is a great traveller. Born in Tar
rytown, N. Y, in 1882, he made rather
poor showing at the schools to which
he was sent as.a boy, but in the Sum-
mer of 1898, under instruction of Will
liam NJ Chase. he discovered that
what he wanted to do was to be an
artist. At Columbia College he studied
architecture. For several years he
worked with Abbott Thayer, the paint
er and naturalist. in Dublin N. H His
first wife was Thayer's niece, Kath-
leen Whiting-by wohm he had five
children. He has always delighted in
adventure and in living dangerously.
The year 1914-15 was spent in New
foundland; in 1918 he and his 9-year-
old son were in Alaska; the following
year he went to TERRA del Fuego, be-
cause he had read that it was the
worst place in the world.
Everywhere I have BEEN" he writes,
II have had enthusiasms and excite
ments. I have stood in spots where
/ have known that I was the first
white man who had ever seen that
country I'd. And because I have been
alone so much and have been moved
30 much by what have seen, have
had to paint and write about it. And
by virtue Of that need to paint and
write, I am an artist"
NO ONE will deny Rockwell Kent
his title as artist. A decade ago
the Phillips Memorial Gallery owned
no less than 10 Of Rockwell Kent's
paintings; and in writing of his work
at that time. Duncan Phillips said.
with great truth, ANY painter who can
communicate his moods of agony and
ecstacy, Of deep depression, of buoy
ant exhiliaration, with no means ex-
traneous to color and form is of the
good company Of the chosen few who
fulflll the artists true function" To
this period belong the Burial of the
Young Man." the Road Roller" both
included in the Phillips collection, and
"The Valley" very great canvas, we'll
known through reproduction and re-
peated exhibition.
Since then Mr.. Kent has given the
greater portion of his time to work in
black and white-lithographs, wood
cuts, pen-and-ink drawings-and has
illustrated several volumes-among
them "Moby Dick" THE Canterbury
Tales" "Beowulf," and most lately
@Leaves Of Grass"-magnificent
There Is something elemental in
these drawings, something superbly
big and strong and moving that sets
them apart and gives them distinction.
More than that they, in themselves,
make contribution, they illumine the