Running Water

Rockwell KentWW-1918-029539

1918·Brush and black ink, with scraping, over graphite, on ivory wood pulp laminate card·24 × 19 cm (9 1/2 × 7 1/2 in.)

<p>Born in Tarrytown, New York, Rockwell Kent spent much of his early life in and around New York City, studying with some of the most prominent modern artists of his day, including William Merritt Chase, Arthur Wesley Dow, and Robert Henri. An admirer of the writings of the Transcendentalists, he loved nature and drew inspiration from the austere beauty of wilderness. He sought out isolated natural places, living at various times on Monhegan Island, Maine, and in Alaska, Tierra del Fuego, Ireland, and Greenland. This drawing dates from his sojourn to Alaska and clearly demonstrates the clean, idealized style he developed as an illustrator and printmaker.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1918
Medium: Brush and black ink, with scraping, over graphite, on ivory wood pulp laminate card
Dimensions: 24 × 19 cm (9 1/2 × 7 1/2 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Rockwell Kent

Artist

Rockwell Kent

Painting

Rockwell Kent was an American painter, printmaker, and illustrator whose dramatic landscapes and wood engravings captured remote environments across Greenland, Alaska, and Newfoundland. Working primarily in oil, lithography, and wood engraving throughout the twentieth century, Kent developed a distinctive visual language of simplified forms and bold contrasts that conveyed both the sublime and the austere. His illustrated editions of classical texts and his graphic works on paper established him as a major figure in American printmaking and social-minded illustration.

Tarrytown, NY, USA

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