Rockwell Kent

Sally Kent Gorton (the artist's wife)
Adirondack Store and Gallery, Ray Brook, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 1979

New York, Larcada Gallery, Rockwell Kent: Adirondack Paintings, 1940-1966, 1973
New York, Hammer Galleries, 1977
Ray Brook, New York, Adirondack Store and Gallery, 1981

Scott R. Ferris and Caroline M. Welsh, The View from Asgaard: Rockwell Kent's Adirondack Legacy, Blue Mountain Lake, New York, 1999, p. 51

The canvas is unlined. There are a few scattered surface accretions and a tiny scuff near the lower right edge. Under UV: there is no apparent inpainting.
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In a letter that accompanies this lot, Scott R. Ferris and Richard V. West write of Croquet Game: “Throughout [Rockwell] Kent’s later years at his home in the Adirondacks, Asgaard Farm, he included, among his painting compositions, scenes of family activity. During the late 1950s into the early 1960s, the artist seemed to take special pleasure in depicting scenes of his grandchildren and the children of his local friends, as we see in Croquet Game. Often these activities took place outdoors in a pine grove adjacent to “Gladsheim,” as Kent had christened his house. As a painter, Kent had been fascinated with the various effects of sunlight since his days on Monhegan and in Alaska. Here, he uses the effect of golden light streaming through the pillar-like trunks of the pines to create a tranquil stage for the young croquet players.”