Tom Veilleux Gallery in Portland, Maine is currently showing a group of works by Rockwell Kent, including recently discovered works given by Kent to Mr. and Mrs. Abe Colish and their daughter. These works have descended in that family and now make their way to the art market for the first time.

The Colish family paintings include an oil painting titled, Monhegan. 

Paintings of Monhegan by Kent, not previously known to scholars, are rarely offered for sale. Most are in museums and prestigious private collections.

Rockwell Kent arrived on Monhegan Island, off the coast of Maine, in June of 1905. He was urged to go there by his teacher and mentor, Robert Henri. It was during this first period on the island that Kent found his voice as an artist. He developed his unique, bold style and captured the rugged shoreline of the island on canvas.

He settled into island life working as a lobsterman, carpenter and handyman to support himself and built several buildings including a house and studio for himself. One of these was purchased many years later by the artist, Jamie Wyeth, and it has often been the subject of his paintings.

 Kent left the island in 1910 eventually settling in upstate New York. Over the course of the ensuing years Kent travelled extensively, seeking out parts of the world that had striking and rugged landscapes including Newfoundland, Alaska, Tierra del Fuego, Ireland and Greenland.  He returned to Monhegan a mature artist in 1947 and spent summers there until 1953. It was early in this period that he painted, Monhegan.  

Abraham Colish was a friend of Rockwell Kent and a printer of many of Kent’s books, book illustrations and book plates. The Press of A. Colish was a highly respected printer, producing books for the Limited Editions Club, the Grolier Club, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Harvard University. The logo of The Press of A. Colish was designed by Rockwell Kent.  

Also currently being shown by Tom Veilleux Gallery are other paintings, drawings and watercolors by Rockwell Kent.