Timbered Headland

Timbered Headland

1919 and c. 1950
Oil on canvas
27 7/8 x 44 1/4 in. (71.1 x 111.8 cm)

Alternate titles:
Headland
Alaska Headland
Alaskan Headland
Wooded Headland

Inscribed lower right:
“© Rockwell Kent, Alaska, 1919″


Provenance:
Artist
(William Macbeth, Inc. New York, 1950)
J.J. Ryan (Oak Ridge Collection)
Descended through the family

Collection:
Private Collection

Notes:
Listed in the 1920 M. Knoedler & Company leaflet, “The Alaska Paintings of Rockwell Kent,” is a painting entitled “Headland” (#13). No other information is provided–in the catalogue, presently known period publications or in Kent’s papers–about this work. The title suggests that it may have been an earlier title for “Alaska Headland,” etc.

“Alaska Headland” is the title of the painting that appeared in several exhibitions in 1924, including one at Wildenstein Galleries in New York. Wildenstein was the lender of this painting to the Pan-American Exhibition in 1925-1926 (#140). A stamp from the Pan-American exhibition appears on the verso of the canvas and a stretcher bar. And the painting is illustrated in the catalogue for the Pan-American Exhibition as “Alaskan Headland.”

Since 1942 this painting has been publicly known as “Timbered Headland.” (Earlier attributions to this title are unknown at this time.)

The title “Wooded Headland” appears in the January 15, 1951 Macbeth “sales book” entry, and on a plaque on the front of the frame.

Kent may have touched up this painting before selling it to J.J. Ryan in 1950. Evidence of this includes the use of the © symbol, which Kent did not use in 1919.

In Kent’s exhibition catalogue “Know and Defend America,” he describes this painting as follows: “This headland formed one of the arms of the crescent bay on which we lived. The timber is mainly primeval spruce.”