Kent playing his father’s flute, which he carried
on all his travels, Asgaard, c.1950 |
In 1947 Kent’s mother died
at the age of 91, leaving each of her children $30,000. Kent invested
most of his inheritance in hopes of building a hedge against his plummeting
income.
With the rest, the artist returned with his wife, Sally, to Monhegan
Island, Maine, the scene of his earliest triumphs and transgressions.
He reacquired the little cottage he had built back in 1907. By visiting in
the fall and early spring, when the tourists were gone, Monhegan seemed
little changed:
“My body has grown old. I walk now where I used to run; step carefully
where once I’d leap. But still, my eyes are good. And seeing,
must I not respond to nature’s beauty? I began to paint again, with
undiminished love for the familiar scenes.”
“I lug my canvasses across the gullies, up the headlands. I relive my
youth. Or better I am young again.”
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But fallout from Kent’s clash with U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy was
immediate. Kent’s politics were never a secret to the islanders, but now
the symptoms were instantly apparent: avoidance on the footpaths,
hurried departures from the general store whenever the Kents came in.
Unable to find sanctuary even on Monhegan, Kent and Sally soon left,
never to return.
The Adirondack Mountains that cradle Asgaard still inspired the aging
artist, but his paintings were accumulating in his studio, most unseen by
anyone except Sally.
In 1960 Kent arranged to give eighty canvases and eight hundred drawings
and prints, work that covered every phase of his career, to the Soviet
Union, “the one people in the world who have demonstrated their high
regard for what I do.”
Kent gave Asgaard Dairy
to two loyal farmhands (left)
after Kent’s political views
created a regional boycott,
1948
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 | Once Upon a Time, 1956-59
oil on canvas
Bequest of Sally Kent Gorton
[P52000.180] |
 | Memorial Day, Monhegan, 1950
oil on canvas
Gift of Sally Kent Gorton
[X1978.1.11] |
 | Gull Rock, Monhegan, c.1950's
oil on board
Bequest of Sally Kent Gorton
[P52000.182] |
 | Blackhead, Monhegan, 1950
oil on canvas
Gift of Sally Kent Gorton
[X1978.1.4] |
 | Au Sable River Rapids, 1950
oil on canvas
Gift of Sally Kent Gorton
[X1978.1.15] |
 | Winter Sunrise or Winter Sunrise, Adirondacks, 1952
oil on wood
Bequest of Sally Kent Gorton
[P52000.181] |
 | Asgaard Jerseys, 1965
oil on canvas
Gift of Sally Kent Gorton
[X1978.1.13] |
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