{"id":13454,"date":"2021-12-18T11:45:33","date_gmt":"2021-12-18T17:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=13454"},"modified":"2021-12-20T11:52:18","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T17:52:18","slug":"artist-rockwell-kent-followed-moby-dick-to-the-ends-of-the-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=13454","title":{"rendered":"Artist Rockwell Kent followed Moby Dick to the ends of the earth"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For me, this is Rockwell Kent’s most magnificent evocation of Moby Dick. We see him breaching in the night, an act of exultation which demonstrates his godlike presence in the sea, and his cosmic relationship to the heavens. This is hardly an evil whale.<\/em><\/p>\n

Moby-Dick prints by Rockwell Kent<\/strong><\/p>\n

And then there were humans and leviathans, both pursuing light and the night. Where to? Why? Because Ahab is evil? Or is the white whale? Melville found horror in whiteness, but his profound and prescient chapter on the subject deflects nearly as much as it reflects.<\/p>\n

For artist Rockwell Kent, deep in that same pursuit, the devil was<\/em> in the details, the textures of truth. Enter here. You may begin to feel the night engulfing, and lacerating. Kent actually produced 280 noir<\/em>-Deco woodcuts for the 1930 Random House edition of Moby-Dick<\/em>, and so charged the era’s imagination that Melville\u2019s behemoth tale, long homeless for a meaningful audience, became palatable, bite by bite. The 135 short chapters, such an orgy of wonder and mystery, found their brethren in images.<\/p>\n

And the forsaken story finally found its audience, with the printmaker\u2019s incalculable assist. I recently responded to an NPR survey about the single work of art that changed one\u2019s life, and chose this book, and shared how Kent’s work primed me for the great American odyssey. But another recent blog, from which most of these images are borrowed, prompted me to flesh out Kent\u2019s work more than before. That blog, A Smart Dude Reads Moby-Dick<\/em>, is also recommended especially \u2026for Moby-Dick<\/em> doubters and procrastinators.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/avidly.lareviewofbooks.org\/2012\/09\/20\/a-smart-dude-reads-moby-dick-episode-1\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Begin with zealous artistry, probing atmosphere and characterization, and tale-spinning flourish, if I may offer something of the meaningfulness of these images. I invite you to soak them up and read the short comment texts included. You may be on your way to the sea’s beckoning horizon.<\/p>\n

Some include full-page reproductions of Melville\u2019s book, with text and illustration, for a counterpoint of mind and eye, from the ground-breaking 1930 edition (still available in a Modern Library a paperback edition). Kent was a knife-wielding poet of shadow and light, as you begin to see in the first image, from the chapter entitled \u201cThe Counterpane.\u201d The counterpane (quilt) and arms dance amid their rest. In the text, notice how narrator Ishmael focuses on the visual effect of his experience. But in that moment? Where do dreams go to live, or die? Comedy lies waiting, as much as fate, but so much more!<\/p>\n

\"\"Below, we see Ahab (who doesn\u2019t appear in the book until Chapter 28) in two telling moments. First, he gazes defiantly into the sea light, infernal for him. We then should let Melville’s words introduce him, with the first page of \u201cSunset\u201d (Chapter 37), our post\u2019s first indication of the narrator\u2019s sense of the power of atmosphere for his story, and for his subject. The second image below shows Ahab full-figure, master of his domain, if not of his wretchedly magnificent mind. Note the small hole in the deck carved out to steady his whalebone leg — Moby-Dick\u2019s hellish handiwork, and the virtual spleen driving the tale.<\/p>\n

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Arguably the second most colorful character in Moby-Dick<\/em> besides Ahab (if not Moby Dick himself) is the Polynesian first harpoonist Queequeg. Covered with tattoos, he\u2019s a king in his native land; sells, and prays to, shrunken heads; and memorably befriends the narrator, a relationship that, in its way, begets the whole story, as the final chapter reveals. Here Melville introduces Queequeg in the chapter \u201cBiographical.\u201d The scene depicted may reference a later chapter, \u201cThe Monkey Rope\u201d where he attempts a stunt-like action during whale-cutting with Ishmael, situated at the other end of the chain. He saves Ishmael\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

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This print below exemplifies Kent\u2019s mastery of what would become known as noir<\/em> atmosphere, which would almost simultaneously begin being exploited by film-makers (see previous blog):<\/p>\n

NPR American Masters question: What single work of art changed your life?<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n