The artist's early work met with widespread rejection from critics, which was a bitter blow to his confidence.

rejection 是名词，来自动词 reject（拒绝、不接受）。reject 由前缀 re-（表示"回、反"）和词根 -ject（表示"投、抛"）组成，字面意思是"抛回"，引申为"拒绝接受"。 rejection 指"拒绝、否决"的行为或结果，在这里指评论界对艺术家作品的否定态度。