Pinnacle

1926

Journey to Ireland

He traveled to Ireland, where he lived and worked for extended periods.

1926–1930

Illustrations for "Moby-Dick"

The publisher R. R. Donnelley offered Kent Dana's Two Years Before the Mast to illustrate, but the artist chose Melville's Moby-Dick instead. The three-volume limited edition of 1930 with his pen drawings (1,000 copies) sold out instantly; Random House issued a trade edition.

1927

Asgaard Farm in the Adirondacks

He moved to upstate New York, buying a farm in the Adirondack Mountains that he named Asgaard; it remained his home and studio for the rest of his life.

summer 1929

First Voyage to Greenland

In the summer of 1929 he set out on a painting expedition to Greenland (including a shipwreck off its coast), recounted in the bestseller N by E (1930). After meeting the Danish polar explorers Peter Freuchen and Knud Rasmussen, he resolved to return to Greenland to paint and draw.