It is not easy to trace most of Kendall’s work today. Some pieces are in museums, which fortunately are making digital copies. But most of his paintings entered private collections a century ago. Unless they have been sold at auction or through a dealer, there are no records of where they are today. On this page you will find a small selection of his works that I am trying to locate. These are just paintings for which I can find an image of some sort. I have a much longer list of titles with no image. If you know where any of these paintings are, please reach out to me at anne.underwood at gmail.com.
PICTURES FROM BRITTANY
Like many artists in the late 1800s, Kendall was drawn to Brittany, in the northwest corner of France. According to his journals, he painted a great many pictures there. However, most of them are lost. Do you know where these paintings from Kendall’s Breton period are?
On a Cliff Overlooking the Sea (left)
On a Path, Brittany (right)
Two Young Gossips of Le Pouldu (below)
FAMILY PORTRAITS
Kendall was best known for paintings of his wife and three daughters—Elisabeth, Beatrice, and Alison. This charming painting is of Beatrice with the family dog. It was originally titled Phlox Blossoms, but at an auction in the 1990s, it was renamed Girl in Blue with Her Dog.
Midsummer Day shows Beatrice and Alison in a tree in Newport, RI.
Green Gnome (right) shows Margaret reading to Elisabeth. The painting was purchased by a major collector at the time, but ultimately sold and ended up in the Hugh Morson High School in Raleigh, NC. The school was demolished in 1968. What happened to this painting?
Intent (below) appears to have been cut down from a much larger painting called Through a Doorway that showed Margaret watching Elisabeth and Beatrice through a doorway as the girls played on the stairs.
Intermezzo shows Alison with her violin. All I can find of it is this poor newspaper copy from when the painting was shown in an exhibition at RISD.
LANDSCAPES
Paradise Rocks, Newport
NUDES
Reclining Nude (left)
Femme Nue (below)
