Alaska Winter

Alaska, Winter

1919
Oil on canvas
34 x 43 5/8 in. (86.4 x 110.8 cm)
Inscribed lower left: Rockwell Kent. Alaska. 1919.

Alternate titles:
Winter
Alaska
Winter, Alaska

Provenance (see notes, below):
(Wildenstein Gallery, circa 1924)
Louis L. and Nettie Horch/Roerich Museum
(Art market, 1970)
Dr. Donald M. Mclntyre (to 1982)
(C. W. Edwards, Ltd. American Art, 1982)

Collection:
Anchorage Museum
[formerly: Anchorage Museum of History and Art], Anchorage, AK

Notes:
The title “Winter,” is found in the Knoedler Gallery listing for the first Kent Alaska painting exhibition in 1920 (#11). It is likely the same painting. The title “Alaska” appears as a caption in the 1921 Dallas Art Association exhibition catalogue, “American and European Art” (#154). The title “Winter, Alaska” derives from the illustration caption in F. Newlin Price’s essay, “Rockwell Kent–Voyager” (International Studio, July, 1924). And the title, “Alaska Winter,” is noted in the catalogues for the 1924 Kent exhibitions at the Carnegie Institute, Art Institute of Chicago and Wildensteins.

The provenance is unclear. The painting may have been purchased by Louis L. and Nettie Horch from the 1924 Wildenstein Kent exhibition. [Horch was the founder and president of the Roerich Museum.] It is illustrated in the 1929 book, “American Artists,” by Ivan Narodny, with an introduction by Nicholas Roerich [illustrated as, “Alaska,” and noted as being in the “American Section” of the Roerich Museum]. Ownership is attributed to the Roerich Museum in Kent’s 1933 book, “Rockwellkentiana.” The painting was loaned to the Syracuse [NY] Museum of Fine Arts by Louis L. Horch for their 1937 Kent exhibition. In a July 1, 1938 article in The Art Digest, that discusses the dissolving of the Roerich Museum and the name change to the Riverside Museum (also headed by Louis L. Horch): the article mentions that Kent is represented by one canvas. Apparently, in 1970, the painting was sold to Dr. Donald M. McIntyre, of Seattle, WA; who in turn sold the work in 1982, through C. W. Edwards, LTD, also of Seattle, to the Anchorage Historical and Fine Arts Museum.

A label on the verso states: “Property of: Nettie S. Horch/310 Riverside Drive, New York.”