Lot Essay
An extensive personal correspondence covering an important period of his career which provide an interesting glimpse into the most personal side of the often obscure Rockwell Kent. These letters reflect the intense and passionate nature of both the man and the artist.
Kent met the young Follies dancer Hildegarde Köhler (later Hirsch?) in June 1916 in New York. They soon began an affair which lasted over two years while Kent was married to his first wife, Kathleen. He recounts their first meeting in his autobiography It's Me O Lord (1955): "One summer day in 1916...I found myself at the torn-up corner of Forty-first Street and Seventh Avenue, and about to step upon the plank that bridged the mud pond at the Kerb, when I observed a young woman about to cross it from the other end. I stood aside. And as, with downcast eyes to watch her step, she crossed, I looked at her. And what with its being the month of June and all that I have said about the day, what with her being so prettily dressed in white and its wo well becoming her golden hair, red lips, blue eyes; what with my being me, it suddenly came over me that never in all my life had I seen so entrancingly lovely a creature." (p. 319). The temultuous nature of their relationship is clearly evident in these letters, as is Kent's struggle with his marriage, family and work during this pivotal point of his career. The following quotes are virtually at random to show the nature of the letters.
18 July 1917: "My Dear Hildegarde: For the sake of us let us have peace. I'm tired of the struggle, I'm tired of love; I am almost tired of you. I have done my best. Doubtless the strain under which you were, that to save yourself you had to drive me away from you, was too great to leave you a choice. I no longer want to coerce you. You shall have your way...The pity is that my ways should have called for so much patience. If it is a fact that to be happy I must have more than you can give..."
13 April [1917]: "I would like your friendship to be a firm one. I shall regret deeply if you decide that we are not to go about together to parties. Can't you see how I am trying to make my friends yours and to establish a recognition among my friends of the wonderful love between Hildegarde and Rockwell..."
11 July 1917: "...I am far too sad to write to you. I'll be relieved when Kathleen goes. She knows something terrible is wrong with me and she worries. And it is too hard for us to keep up appearances..."
26 September 1917: "I worked all morning making a sketch for the decoration and just sent it off to George. I plan to make it 4 feet six inches wide and fifteen feet long. That's pretty big isn't it. And it will be full of great ships - an epic of the sea!"
[14 February] "St. Valentine's Day" 1918: "My dearest Sweetheart- If you knew but half the loving acts and words that I repress you'd be wonderfully happy..."
Wednesday, [August, 1918]: "...Just a word this morning before we get to Vancouver. It is 7.30 now. Rockie and me are all dressed up and just waiting to get there...then we shall take the very first steamer we can and go north to Skagnag where we'll probably change to another..."
5 August 1918: "...Sometime tomorrow morning we reach our first port on this journey northward. The trip is glorious. Such a wonderland of mountains, range upon range with snow capped monsters rising in places sheer above us..."
Kent met the young Follies dancer Hildegarde Köhler (later Hirsch?) in June 1916 in New York. They soon began an affair which lasted over two years while Kent was married to his first wife, Kathleen. He recounts their first meeting in his autobiography It's Me O Lord (1955): "One summer day in 1916...I found myself at the torn-up corner of Forty-first Street and Seventh Avenue, and about to step upon the plank that bridged the mud pond at the Kerb, when I observed a young woman about to cross it from the other end. I stood aside. And as, with downcast eyes to watch her step, she crossed, I looked at her. And what with its being the month of June and all that I have said about the day, what with her being so prettily dressed in white and its wo well becoming her golden hair, red lips, blue eyes; what with my being me, it suddenly came over me that never in all my life had I seen so entrancingly lovely a creature." (p. 319). The temultuous nature of their relationship is clearly evident in these letters, as is Kent's struggle with his marriage, family and work during this pivotal point of his career. The following quotes are virtually at random to show the nature of the letters.
18 July 1917: "My Dear Hildegarde: For the sake of us let us have peace. I'm tired of the struggle, I'm tired of love; I am almost tired of you. I have done my best. Doubtless the strain under which you were, that to save yourself you had to drive me away from you, was too great to leave you a choice. I no longer want to coerce you. You shall have your way...The pity is that my ways should have called for so much patience. If it is a fact that to be happy I must have more than you can give..."
13 April [1917]: "I would like your friendship to be a firm one. I shall regret deeply if you decide that we are not to go about together to parties. Can't you see how I am trying to make my friends yours and to establish a recognition among my friends of the wonderful love between Hildegarde and Rockwell..."
11 July 1917: "...I am far too sad to write to you. I'll be relieved when Kathleen goes. She knows something terrible is wrong with me and she worries. And it is too hard for us to keep up appearances..."
26 September 1917: "I worked all morning making a sketch for the decoration and just sent it off to George. I plan to make it 4 feet six inches wide and fifteen feet long. That's pretty big isn't it. And it will be full of great ships - an epic of the sea!"
[14 February] "St. Valentine's Day" 1918: "My dearest Sweetheart- If you knew but half the loving acts and words that I repress you'd be wonderfully happy..."
Wednesday, [August, 1918]: "...Just a word this morning before we get to Vancouver. It is 7.30 now. Rockie and me are all dressed up and just waiting to get there...then we shall take the very first steamer we can and go north to Skagnag where we'll probably change to another..."
5 August 1918: "...Sometime tomorrow morning we reach our first port on this journey northward. The trip is glorious. Such a wonderland of mountains, range upon range with snow capped monsters rising in places sheer above us..."