Kent (seated, second from right) with family at
daughter’s wedding, Asgaard, c. 1937 |
In 1927 ROCKWELL and FRANCES
made their escape from New York City. The large sums he earned from
advertising, fine art, and illustration provided the means for a move
upstate, to the Adirondack Mountains.
Just outside the village of Au Sable Forks, Kent found a farm with more than
250 acres of pasture and pine forests, with vast blue vistas.
Asgaard Farm buildings
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Most of the structures on the property were beyond restoration.
No stranger to starting anew, Kent had them
razed. Within six weeks of purchase he had contractors
building a brand-new barn with a huge hayloft. Inspired
by his love for ancient Norse legend, Kent named his
new home Asgaard, meaning “home of the gods.”
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But Kent’s Valhalla was plagued by poor soil. In order to make the
pastures profitable again, he spent thousands of dollars on fertilizer. Too
busy to be anything more than a gentleman farmer, he employed a succession
of managers who handled his herd and tended to his fields, rarely
turning a profit.
A new house, modest but sturdily built, also rose quickly along with a
studio tucked away in a grove of pine trees. The farm became a meeting
place for Kent’s friends, artists and intelligentsia who often gathered
there on weekends. Among them were poet Louis Untermeyer, Hollywood
screenwriter Donald Ogden Stewart, and Academy Award-winning
director Lewis Milestone, who was married to Frances Kent’s sister.
After fourteen years of marriage, Frances and Rockwell divorced. Sally
Johnstone, hired as Kent’s assistant, became his wife in 1940. Asgaard, the
center of their life and work, would serve as their retreat and refuge for the
rest of their lives.
Rockwell and Sally Kent at Asgaard, c.1945 |
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 | And This My Child Is Where Your Mother Was Born, 1930 reworked 1950
oil on canvas
Gift of Sally Kent Gorton
[X1978.1.6] |
 | Abandoned Farm, c.1935
oil on canvas
Gift of Sally Kent Gorton
[X1980.1.131] |
 | December 8, 1941, 1941
oil on canvas
Gift of Sally Kent Gorton
[X1978.1.17] |
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