Dublin Pond
Spring has sprung! It’s a bit dreary in New England right now, but we hope our wonderful collection offers you some cheer at this time. We love hearing from our community and thank you for sharing your thoughts.
One request was “Dublin Pond,” painted by Rockwell Kent, who studied under William Merritt Chase and later, assisted Abott Handerson Thayer in Dublin, NH.
Kent was highly influenced by Transcendentalism and his landscapes show his reverence for the natural world. He painted “Dublin Pond” early in his career and exhibited it as part of the Society of American Artists in 1904, where SCMA acquired it. Kent pays close attention to colors and shadows, contrasting the mass of Mount Monadnock against the bright sky. He abstracts and simplifies forms of trees and buildings. The symmetry of the mountain’s reflection in the pond references Japanese prints, which were studied by many artists at this time.
Kent continued to develop his creative practice and traveled extensively to isolated parts of the world to capture their beauty. He was extremely versatile, described as, "painter, muralist, printmaker, book illustrator, graphic designer, author, lecturer, hermit, wanderer, navigator, eccentric non-conformist, aggressive social reformer, amateur politician, notorious political subversive and patriotic American."
Image credit: Rockwell Kent, American, 1882–1971. Dublin Pond, 1903. Painting, oil on canvas. Purchased with the Winthrop Hillyer Fund