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Although Kent focused on painting during most of his career, his involvement and mastery of printmaking began in the 1920s. A commission from a New York firm to produce advertising images in pen and ink stirred his interest in printmaking. For these drawings, Kent abstracted a style from his painting, using strong blacks and whites, clear shapes and precise lines. Beowulf is an illustration for W.E. Leonard’s translation of the old English epic story of the hero Beowulf. This print is one of an edition of 150 lithographs printed from the stone in 1931. The image was canceled, and the stone reground, but the lithograph’s image was reproduced by printer George Miller as an offset lithograph in reverse from zinc plates for 950 copies of Beowulf.
Rockwell Kent
(American, 1882 - 1971)
Beowulf
1931
13 7/8 × 10 1/2 in. (35.2 × 26.7 cm)
2009.2.3
© Courtesy of Plattsburgh State Art Museum/Estate of Sally Kent Gordon
Purchased with funds given in memory of Charles Livingston Grimes, 2009
Not on view
Rockwell Kent was an independent person with a particularly private personality. Following only his inner voice, he traveled to exotic and extreme locales, where his art connected with the land, environments, people he was visiting. On his travels Kent took with him oil paint and pencils to record his experiences. The resultant images became sources for his art throughout his life.
Although Kent focused on painting during most of his career, his involvement and mastery of printmaking began in the 1920s. A commission from a New York firm to produce advertising images in pen and ink stirred his interest in printmaking. For these drawings, Kent abstracted a style from his painting, using strong blacks and whites, clear shapes and precise lines. Beowulf is an illustration for W.E. Leonard’s translation of the old English epic story of the hero Beowulf. This print is one of an edition of 150 lithographs printed from the stone in 1931. The image was canceled, and the stone reground, but the lithograph’s image was reproduced by printer George Miller as an offset lithograph in reverse from zinc plates for 950 copies of Beowulf.