Rockwell Kent (1882- 1971) is probably my favorite 20th century artist. Kent was a powerful painter and one of America's best illustrators. His unique expressions of the North and Arctic through his paintings, drawings, illustrations and writings helped catalyze my own emergence as an Alaska artist. Kent stayed at Resurrection Bay's Fox Island (a few miles from my mom's birthplace of Seward) several months in 1918-1919. My grandfather, then a Seward grocery clerk, may have met him; and my grandmother, who arrived soon after Kent had left, later corresponded with him.
When I first saw the paintings of Canadian artist Lawren Harris (1885-1970) at a 1984 Art Gallery of Ontario show, I assumed the work was Kent's. I was surprised when I learned Kent wasn't even included in that survey of early 20th century Scandinavian, Canadian and American art. Recently, while visiting Canada, actor and art collector Steve Martin saw his first Harris paintings, and he, too, initially thought he was looking at Kent's.
Martin was so impressed with Lawren Harris's art that he helped curate a new show: "The Idea Of North: The Paintings of Lawren Harris," now on display at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Martin's co-curator, Cynthia Burlingham from LA's Hammer Museum, will discuss the exhibit at the Anchorage Museum. This new exhibit, Harris's first solo show in the United States, rekindled my interest in the strong and intriguing ties between Kent and Harris.
Around 1920, Harris helped found the Group of Seven, a fellowship of male artists who shared ideas and traveled individually and in small groups across Canada during the '20s and '30s. They established a unique Canadian artistic identity through personal and stylized depictions of their vast northern homeland. Harris, a wealthy heir, was closest to being the group's leader.
Despite New York's 1913 Armory Show -- North America's first major display of modern art that showed Picasso and many others -- the Canadians' art continued to repeat earlier genres, and it is unlikely any Group of Seven artists visited that ground-breaking show.
Rockwell Kent was in Minnesota during the Armory Show, but he'd already studied new European art and shared ideas and discussions with friends, including American Modernist painter Marsden Hartley. In 1914 and 1915, while in Newfoundland, Kent produced stunning new expressionist landscapes with ghostly figures, reminiscent of Picasso's Blue Period or the work of Edvard Munch (who painted "The Scream"). But the Newfoundland art was uniquely Kent's.
After no longer being welcome in Canada (see Doug Capra's January 25, 2015, article in The Seward Journal), Kent traveled to Alaska in 1918 and 1919. His mountains and glaciers simplified to flatter geometries. Sharp boundaries, saturated colors and atmospheric luminance highlighted Alaska as a perfect natural studio. After returning to New York, his 1920 book, "Wilderness," and his art were well received.
While Kent sympathized with Germany, Harris volunteered with the Canadian military in 1916. He suffered a nervous breakdown after his brother died in 1918. After recovering, Harris became aware of exciting new art rumblings from New York. I don't know if Harris personally saw Kent's Alaska shows, but soon he'd acquired photographs of the Fox Island art and other new American works, including those of Georgia O'Keeffe. By 1923, Harris had transitioned from older impressionist styles to drastically new, glorious, almost sculptural color compositions. Their monumental qualities proudly orated: "Canada."
Ironically, some of Harris's best Canadian icons confess to Kent's influence. Harris's 1926 "North Shore, Laker Superior," hints visual artifacts of Kent Fox Island scenes, including "Alaska Winter," 1919 (in the Anchorage Museum's collection). "North Shore" and "Alaska Winter" are bright snow scenes, each featuring a central tree stump with a water background. Harris's graphite "Preliminary Sketch for North Shore, Lake Superior," 1924, at Canada's National Gallery, reveals additional links—including two more trunks, one leaning towards the right margin, and another leaning towards the left, that more precisely mimic "Alaska Winter." Harris's objects probably weren't coincidental. Constance Martin, in "Distant Shores: The Odyssey of Rockwell Kent," and Peter Larisey, in "Light for a Cold Land: Lawren Harris's Life and Work," have discussed Kent's influence.
It seems like Kent's contributions have often been ignored, denied or marginalized as inconvenient truths that would tarnish the Group of Seven's unique Canada identity. But would the obvious appropriations and influences raise artistic infringement questions similar to, say, the pending Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven" case?
I don't think so. Kent and Harris were friends. Kent wasn't Harris's Stairway to Modernism—he was a few steps on the way. I'd love to see a Rockwell Kent and Lawren Harris show, celebrating their remarkable strengths, differences, similarities and the intense, unfiltered creative energy they both extracted out of the North. Fox Island and Lake Superior's North Shore were very special environments that spawned some of North America's most important 20th century art.
Artist James Behlke received his BFA from University of Alaska Fairbanks and his MFA from the University of Southern California. He's had numerous Alaska solo shows and his work is included in Alaska's major museum collections, and in private collections nationally and internationally. His website is jamesbehlke.com.
THE IDEA OF NORTH, a talk by Cindy Burlingham, will take place at 7 p.m. Friday at the Anchorage Museum. Museum admission is half price as part of the Polar Nights series.