Kent had an unusually long and thorough training as an artist. He was a student at the Horace Mann School in New York City and subsequently studied architecture at Columbia University, toward the end of which he felt a strong inclination toward painting and took up the study of art under William Merritt Chase at the Shinnecock Hills School. He studied later at the New York School, under Robert Henri and Kenneth Hayes Miller, and finally as an apprentice to Abbott Thayer at Dublin, New Hampshire. Henri encouraged him to go to Monhegan Island where Kent painted on his own. He was absorbed in the awesome power of the environment; natures timeless energy and contrasting forces influenced his work throughout his lifetime. His early and lasting relationship with the sea was portrayed again and again in his work.
Born in Tarrytown Heights, New York, he lived in Maine, Newfoundland, Alaska, Greenland, and the Adirondacks and explored the waters around Tierra del Fuego in a small boat. His paintings, lithographs, and woodcuts often portrayed the bleak and rugged aspects of nature; a reflection of his life in harsh climates. During his lifetime, he worked as an architectural draftsman, illustrator, printmaker, painter, lobsterman, ship carpenter, and dairy farmer.
His figure-studies show with what perseverance he worked to perfect his draftsmanship and his ability to portray the human form in any pose or manner.
Kent stands out in American art in his use of symbolism. Humanity was the hero in most of his prints, which are symbolic representations of certain intuitions about destiny and the meaning of existence. Many of the prints seem to depict humanity in a struggle to capture ultimate reality, to penetrate into the mystery of the dark night of the universe, and to discover the reasons for existence.
His work is most frequently identified with that of the American Social Realists and the great muralists of the 1920s and 1930s.
(Adapted from biography at Plattsburgh State Art Museum)

This piece is from the Beowulf Suite. The lithographs were issued in an edition of 150. Hero is also known as Funeral Pyre. Kent demonstrates strong composition and use of light and shadow. Of particular note is the triangular position of the legs of Beowulf. All of the images are anchored by the base of a triangle. This and the effective use of light from above tie the different pieces together compositionally. A wonderful example of his graphic work.