The most unexpected color - paintings by Rockwell Kent

I've always loved Kent's wonderful - bold, mystical, brooding, perverse - black and white book illustrations, but I was surprised recently to discover - rediscover? - his remarkable paintings... my god, the color! Printmaker, illustrator, writer, adventurer - radical, philanderer - apparently he considered himself first and foremost a painter. I think these paintings corroborate that designation brilliantly.

Killer Whales in Resurrection Bay, Alaska, 1919.

Adirondack View, 1928-30.

Dan Ward's Stack, Ireland, 1927.

Seal Hunter, North Greenland, 1933.

From Palmer Hill, 1946.

Asgaard Farm, circa 1948.

Untitled/unknown title, 1932-33.

Sun, Mañana, Monhegan, 1907.

Afternoon on the Sea, Monhegan, 1907.

Tierra Del Fuego, South America (Dome Mountain), circa 1922.

Salmon Waters, Ireland, 1926-27.

Late Afternoon, Monhegan Island, 1906-07.

December Eighth, 1941, 1941.

Alaska Impression, 1919.

(I haven't been able to find a title or date for this painting.)

May, North Greenland, 1935-37.

Cloudy day, Fjord in Northern Greenland, 1933.

Monhegan, circa 1948.

Summer Day, Asgaard, 1950.

Lobster Catcher, 1955.

Early November, North Greenland, 1933.

Peace and Freedom, Maine Coast, 1909.

Greenland Tryst, 1929.

Young Spruce, The Coast of Maine, 1957.

Toilers of the Sea, 1907.

Valley of Vermont, 1921.

Sturrall, Donegal, Ireland, 1926-1927.

A Village on the Island, Maine Coast, 1909.

Moonlight, Winter, circa 1940.

Squall, Greenland, circa 1933-37.

Sun Glare, Alaska, 1919.