Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Film Showing - Rockwell Kent, American Artist

Why was America's leading illustrator and artist erased from public view?
See the documentary by Frederick Lewis
ROCKWELL KENT, American Artist
Followed by
Recollections of the times, by Al Marder

SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 2011 -- 2PM-6PM
(Film is 3 hours with intermission, followed by discussion)
NEW HAVEN PEOPLE’S CENTER, 37 HOWE STREET
Light Refreshments
Free

Who was Rockwell Kent?
During the 1930s and ‘40s, Rockwell Kent was one of America’s most famous personalities. The foremost illustrator of his day, Kent was also a prolific oil painter whose work is in the collections of major museums. His haunting landscapes were inspired by his adventurous sojourns to Alaska, Tierra del Fuego, and Greenland. He was also a best-selling author and a social activist. Because of his leadership for peace and civil rights, Kent, like Paul Robeson, was forbidden to travel. Their landmark passport cases against the federal government gave all U.S. citizens the right to travel, but like Robeson, Rockwell Kent was effectively blacklisted and his name largely erased from American culture.