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Arts & Activities, June, 2001 by Guy Hubbard

After spending many of the early years of his career painting rugged landscapes, especially in Maine and the Arctic, Rockwell Kent began to choose gentler subjects. The focus of these more relaxed scenes was the area around his home near Au Sable Falls, in upstate New York. The Kent dairy farm, Asgaard, lay at the edge of the mountainous Adirondack National Park and consisted of sweeping meadows. Undoubtedly, the artist was also drawn to Au Sable Falls because of its proximity to the mountain wilderness that was like so many of the places that had for years been the subjects of his paintings.

The strong horizontal emphasis of this picture helps communicate the idea of fertile ground that is smooth and level, rather than rocky and sloping. The idea of lush fertility is further emphasized by the density of the well-watered clover crop that fully occupies a quarter of the foreground. The darker greens of the lower part of the picture are caused partly by the shadow cast by a passing cloud--a device he frequently used.

The pale violet clover blossoms, together with the slim blue alfalfa flowers, provide colorful interest and they also contrast with the thick green mass of leaves and stems. The perspective effect of the flowers painted in gradually diminishing sizes, also leads the eyes of viewers deeper into the painting. Farther away, the detailed brushwork is replaced by a river of brilliant sunlit yellow-green.

The large clover field finally ends at the crisp, finely drawn whiteness of the Kent farm buildings. The mass of trees behind the farm shields the buildings from harsh weather sweeping down from the mountains, although, in this picture, it also provides a dark backdrop that makes the white farm buildings the focus of the picture. This band of trees also marks off the background of foothills and mountains from the clover field and the farm.

This painting also makes use of a practice that appears in many of Rockwell Kent's landscapes: objects in the foreground areas are painted in extreme detail, while objects that are farther away are painted in gradually decreasing detail, although still shown very precisely.

In this work, it is the intricate tangle of flowering clover that dominates the foreground; but because it is evenly textured, it serves more as a threshold to the painting rather than a dominant focus. Although the farm is seen in the distance, and therefore quite small in size, the sharply contrasting collection of buildings forms the center of interest for the whole work.

Beyond the farmhouse and its protective line of trees, lie rising foothills and distant mountain peaks. For this far background, Kent uses his knowledge of aerial perspective to choose colors that suggest increasing distance. The clear country air sharply defines the mountain skyline, and yet the air contains enough dust and mist that few details are visible.

The presence of imperfections in the air is shown by faintly painted sun rays visible between broken clouds. These rays are also useful artistically for breaking up the shapes of the mountains with diagonal lines. Rockwell Kent frequently used the pictorial idea of a light source (the sun) shining from one side to help emphasize the solidness of buildings, mountains and even, trees.

An interesting feature of the sky can be seen in the upper right side of the painting, where a patch of darker cloud appears. Although the sky is generally quite pale compared with the ground, it has some of the same qualities seen on the ground. The colors appear darker than elsewhere and more sharply defined when they are closer to the viewer. This helps in understanding that there is a ceiling to a scene, as well as a floor. This artistic opportunity is often overlooked by students but is present in real life and can be valuable as a way of helping make the sky part of an overall composition.