Summer, Greenland

Originally entitled Community House, Tassiusak, Greenland, this work was begun in 1932 during Rockwell Kent’s second, year-long stay in Greenland; he completed it the following year in his Adirondack studio. An inscription indicates that Kent painted the work for his sister Dorothy. One of numerous portrayals of Greenland’s barren land and clear skies, Summer, Greenland shows one of the wooden community houses erected by the Danish government in its campaign to impose European social values and Christianity on the native populace. Kent’s attitude toward such efforts is conveyed in his composition: at its very center the modest but incongruously bright-red structure is isolated within and dwarfed by impassive, eternal nature. To encourage the local Inuit people to preserve their indigenous culture, Kent, who counted carpentry among his many skills, purchased wood from the Danish government to build a “dance house” in defiance of the Danish authorities.

Of all the many places to which Kent journeyed, Greenland was his favorite. His first adventurous trip there, in 1929, began with a shipwreck; on his second stay, in 1931–2, the artist built himself a house to which he returned in 1934–5. These stays framed the happiest and most productive period in his career, yielding not only numerous paintings, prints, and drawings but three published accounts. In his search for the expression of elemental values, Kent was inspired equally by the heroic resourcefulness of Greenland’s native inhabitants and by the region’s stark landscape, crystalline light, and dramatic color contrasts.

L'Amérique et les modernes, 1900–1950 (American Moderns, 1900–1950), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, July 25–October 31, 2000. [exh. cat.]

Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, October 2001.

D'une colonie à une collection: le Musée d'Art Américain Giverny fête ses dix ans (From a Colony to a Collection: Celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of the Musée d'Art Américain Giverny), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, March 30–June 16, 2002.

A Place on the Avenue: Terra Museum of American Art Celebrates 15 Years in Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 16, 2002–February 16, 2003.

American Classics from the Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 14–June 15, 2003.

Copley to Cassatt: Masterworks from the Terra Collection, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut and Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, September 5–December 7, 2003.

A Narrative of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, February 13–October 31, 2004.

Expanded Galleries of American Art with Loans from the Terra Foundation for American Art Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, April 15, 2005–February 8, 2012.

Expanded Galleries of American Art with Loans from the Terra Foundation for American Art Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, August 29, 2013–March 23, 2017.

Christie's New York (Sale Schläppi 8886, May 21, 1998): lot 167. Ill. lot 167, p. 203 (color).

Schroeter, Joan. Summer, Greenland, Rockwell Kent. Collection Cameo sheet, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, October 2001. Ill. (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. An American Point of View: The Daniel J. Terra Collection. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text pp. 180, 199–200; ill. pp. 181 (color), 199 (black & white).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Un regard transatlantique. La collection d'art américain de Daniel J. Terra. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text pp. 180, 199-200; ill. pp. 181 (color), 199 (black & white).

Wien, Jack Milgram. “Rockwell Kent and Edward Hopper: Looking Out, Looking Within.” The Magazine Antiques (January/February 2016): 180–189. Text pp. 186, 189. Ill. fig. 16, p. 188 (color).