[Thirty-One Albums of Original Prints of Photographs, Representing Kent's Personal Archive of Images of His Excursions to Greenland, Alaska, Denmark, Puerto Rico, the American Southwest, Monhegan Island, of His Honeymoon in New Hampshire and of His Home, Asgaard] by Kent, Rockwell - 1960

[Various Places], 1960. Thirty-one 7.5" x 6" leatherette albums categorized and identified by spine labels, captioned in ink in Kent's hand, containing 1125 individual original matte and glossy black & white 7" x 5" gelatin silver prints. Slight surface variations characteristic of ferrotyping, and some spotting, scratches and other blemishes in the negatives are evident in the prints; some are printed slightly askew; some oxidation, fading or other signs of the amateur processing is evident on occasion, otherwise remarkably good. Until his death Rockwell Kent maintained this collection of thirty-one albums of prints of his own photographs, as well as some photographs taken by others in his company on certain occasions, all arranged, identified and labeled according to locations and subjects. Apart from their categorization by placement in the notebooks, some occasional prints are identified by Kent in ink or bear his stamp. Kent frequently recorded scenes, people and settings via photographs during his voyages and travels, many of which he utilized as reference material, and are identifiable as such, in the production of his illustrations, prints and paintings made during and after his journeys. Kent made three trips to Greenland, first in 1929, and then in 1931-2 and 1934-5, and photographs from these three trips constitute the largest single subject element in the archive. The subjects break down generally as follow:

1) Greenland. 16 albums, including 549 images.

2) Asgaard. 8 albums, including 293 images.

3) Alaska. 1 album, including 46 images.

4) Monhegan Island. 2 albums, including 84 images.

5) Arizona, Colorado, California. 1 album, including 28 images.

6) Puerto Rico. 1 album, including 51 images.

7) Denmark. 1 album, including 43 images.

8) Hillsboro and Richmond. 1 album, including 31 images.

Although obviously best known for his book illustrations, works on paper and paintings, Kent was sufficiently renowned as a photographer during the 1930s that some of his photographs were reproduced in photogravure in a portfolio, MODERN MASTERS OF PHOTOGRAPHY, SERIES 1 PICTORIALISTS, published by the Galleon Press. While those photogravures turn up separately with some frequency - usually well outside of their original context in the portfolio - individual original prints from negatives of Kent's photographs are scarce. We note as reference the appearance of a single Greenland print, also represented by a print in this archive, and in the same format, with Kent's ink rubber stamp on the verso: Swann Galleries, 15 May 2008, Lot 341, ($1300).

Further details about the archive are available upon request.