Otter

Otter

c.1919-1927-1950

Oil on canvas
28 x 34 in. (71.1 x 86.4 cm)


Alternate title:
Sea Otter, Alaska
Sea Otter

Inscribed lower left:
Rockwell Kent (Alaska)

Provenance:
Artist
Joseph James (J.J.) Ryan, Oak Ridge Collection
Descended through the family
Private Collection
(D. Wigmore Fine Art, NY 2009)

Collection:
Private Collection

Notes:
“Otter” is the title that appears in Wildenstein Galleries’ 1927 and 1942 exhibition catalogues–”Paintings by Rockwell Kent” (#45) and “Know and Defend America” (#2). The alternate titles: “Sea Otter, Alaska,” appears on a William Macbeth Gallery label (on verso) for their exhibition, “Paintings by American Artists” [no date]; and as “Sea Otter,” in J.J. Ryan’s 1950 Fine Arts Policy.

Inscriptions: Earliest documented inscription was “Rockwell Kent 1919-27” (see Forbes magazine, January, 1932, p. 31); followed by the intermediate signature, “© Rockwell Kent U.A.A.”; and finally, “Rockwell Kent (Alaska).” Note: “U.A.A.”–United American Artists–is an organization that existed under that name from 1938-1942.

Much of the backdrop of this painting–the distant, murky mountains, and clouds–was altered by the artist, after 1927: probably between 1938 and 1942, when Kent was a member of the U.A.A. Compare Fortune magazine’s illustration with today’s rendition. What is visible of the earliest version is the pentimenti of the mountain range to the right.