One of America’s most innovative mid-century artists, the work of Adaline Kent is highlighted for the first time in more than 60 years in this retrospective exhibition currently on view at the Nevada Museum of Art. Adaline Kent: the click of authenticity presents 120 works that trace the main thematic developments as his work progressed from figuration to abstraction. Encompassing a wide range of media, the exhibition includes drawings, original images incised on Hydrocal (a type of plaster), sculptures large and small, and a rarely seen collection of terracottas.
Growing up in the shadow of Mount Tamalpais in Northern California, Kent’s love of the natural world would be one she shared with her husband, artist Robert B. Howard. Self-proclaimed addict[s] of the High Sierra,” they spent summers and winters exploring this mountainous landscape, and their adventures were reflected in its angular, rugged aesthetic.
Although not widely known today, Kent’s work featured prominently in major exhibitions of the 1940s and 1950s at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the São Paulo Biennial. , as well as at the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York. York.
She was a pair of Ruth Asawa, Isamu Noguchi, Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still, and was a member of the highly productive San Francisco Bay Area artistic circle which included such figures as Charles H. Howard, Madge Knight, John Langley Howard, Robert Boardman Howard, Henry Temple Howard and Jane Berlandina.
The title of the exhibition comes from the artist herself. Known for filling notebooks with detailed descriptions of her artistic aspirations, Kent proclaimed, “I want to hear the click of authenticity,” in a 1956 poetic passage titled “Classic Romantic Mystic.” It is an aspiration that has propelled his work to original and astonishing heights.
Adaline Kent: the click of authenticity is on view until September 10, 2023 at Nevada Art Museum in Reno, Nevada.
To learn more, visit nevadaart.org.
