Kendall’s work is found in major museums across the country. Following is a sampling of his museum pieces.
An Interlude. This painting of the artist’s wife, Margaret, and their middle daughter, Beatrice, has been widely reproduced on gift cards, prints, and the cover of the award-winning book Marmee and Louisa, about Louisa May Alcott and her mother. It is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Beatrice. This painting of Kendall’s wife and second daughter, Beatrice, shows the artist’s strong geometric sense of design, dividing the frame into two-thirds against one-third and placing the figure in white against the black background and vice versa. This is in the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
The Seer (left) is another from the same series and is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is on view alongside paintings by Mary Cassatt.
The Critics (below). Like Beatrice and The Seer, The Critics shows Kendall’s strong geometric sense of design. It depicts his wife Margaret with the couple’s youngest daughter Alison, examining a bust of Alison herself. This is in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Mother and Child. This beautiful pastel is part of a series that Kendall did of Margaret and Alison. It is in the collection of the Rhode Island School of Design.
The Artist’s Wife and Daughter Beatrice. This pastel is in the Nelson-Atkins Museum.
Portrait of Jean-Julien Le Mordant. In striking contrast to the tender pastels above, this one shows the Breton artist Jean-Julien Le Mordant, who was blinded while serving in France in World War I. Le Mordant received an award from Yale University after the war for his valor and leadership. Kendall, who was then dean of the Yale School of the Fine Arts, took the opportunity to draw this pastel. It is in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery.
Désirs. The Smithsonian also owns this lovely, elegaic view of two peasant women in Brittany during the seaweed harvest. This was painted in 1892, while he was still a student.
Cypripedia. After retiring to the mountains of rural western Virginia, Kendall painted a dozen scenes of allegorical nudes in forest settings. Some represented spring, and others fall. This one is called Cypripedia, after the orchid-like flower in the bottom left of the picture. The painting is in the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco
Seconnet River after Sunset. While living in Newport, Kendall painted many landscapes and seascapes, most of which are now lost. This one is in the New Britain Museum of American Art.
Polly and Eleanor Thayer (below). As Polly later recounted, “A picture [by Kendall] in the Metropolitan Museum of a sprite kneeling on a rock had so pleased Mother that she commissioned him to paint Eleanor and me. Kendall produced a good painting, as well as excellent likenesses, and kept us stimulated with his wit at the same time.” The Thayer doublt portrait is in The Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, Mass. The painting that inspired Mrs. Thayer was likely Psyche (right), which is still in the collection of the Met. It was among Kendall’s most popular paintings and was widely reproduced at the time.
Three Portraits (The Artist’s Wife and Daughters). As usual, Elisabeth has to pose in the most uncomfortable position—in this case, kneeling. This painting was purchased by the students of Springville High School from its annual spring salon and is now in the collection of the Springville Museum of Art. If you look closely, you will see that the portrait of Margaret has one blue eye and one brown eye, as she did in real life.
