Rockwell Kent was one of the leading illustrators and artists in America. He was a printmaker, illustrator, painter, lobsterman, ship's carpenter, and dairy farmer. He lived in Maine, Newfoundland, Alaska, Greenland, and the Adirondacks. Kent was born in Tarrytown Heights, New York in 1882. He studied art at the Horace Mann School in New York and architecture at Columbia University. He studied art with William Merritt Chase, Robert Henri, Kenneth Hayes Miller, and Abbot Thayer. His first one-man gallery show was in 1908. In the 1920s, Kent worked as a successful printmaker. By the 1930s, he reached the height of his popularity. In the 1940s, however, Kent's popularity declined. After Kent failed to find a repository for his collection, a body of work consisting of eighty paintings and 800 drawings, it was donated to the Soviet Union. Kent was the author of several books and a popular lecturer on his travels and art during the 1930s and 1940s. Throughout his life, he was a left-wing activist and was blacklisted by Joe McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). He was a member of the Socialist Party and a promoter of civil rights and civil liberties. Kent received the Lenin Peace Prize in 1967 and donated some of the proceeds to North Vietnam. He died in 1971.
In the nineteen letters dated from 1955 to 1962, Rockwell Kent discusses cultural criticism, books, his art, and his view of politics and U.S. and Soviet affairs. In some of the letters, Kent discusses his donation of paintings and drawings to the Soviet Union, a detail Moore apparently leaked to the press. There is an enclosed newspaper clipping of an article Kent wrote explaining the reason for his donation. In some of the letters, Kent enclosed letters he wrote to other people, including one to Olin Downes, music critic for the
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of Archives and Special Collections, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, and The University of Montana--Missoula.
Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. and any other applicable statutes.
[Name of document or photograph number], Rockwell Kent Letters, Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana-Missoula.
Donated by Rick Jones and Michelle Capra-Jones, 1987.
Finding aid in the repository.
This collection of letters is part of a larger Capra-Jones Collection which included books placed into Special Collections.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.