GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Born in Lewiston, Maine, in 1877, Marsden Hartley's interest in painting began early in his life. Hartley moved to Cleveland in 1893 and there studied painting with John Semon and Cullen Yates and attended classes at the Cleveland School of Art. On a stipend from a local patron he went to New York in 1899 to study first at the William Merritt Chase School and then at the National Academy of Design, where he remained for four years. Working at first in a style of academic realism, he began to show signs of the influence of Impressionism and then the mystical landscape style of Albert Pinkham Ryder. He had his first one-man show at Stieglitz's "291" in 1909 and through "291" came to know the art of Paul Cezanne and Pablo Picasso, whose ideas on structure he readily absorbed.
In 1912 Hartley traveled to Europe and quickly became involved in the avant-garde movements centering around Gertrude Stein in Paris and Franz Marc and Wassily Kandinsky in Munich. His painting passed through Cubist and Fauve phases and then under the influence of Cubism and German Expressionism into intuitive symbolic abstractions which attracted considerable attention in Europe and New York. After returning to the States late in 1915, Hartley settled in New York but began to make regular summer expeditions to Maine, New Mexico, and California before returning to Europe in 1921. By 1920 his style was becoming increasingly representational and took on a rustic strength that alludes somewhat to folk art but was used by Hartley as a vehicle for expressing his deep, romantic attachment to the landscape and people of rural America. Returning to the U.S. in 1930, Hartley traveled extensively while working mostly in Maine. Later in life he devoted more and more time to writing poetry and essays on modern art. He died in Ellsworth, Maine, in 1943 where he had lived intermittently for several years.
Adapted from
- Steven A. Nash, Dallas Collects American Paintings: Colonial to Early Modern (exhibition catalogue, Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1982), 119.
- DMA unpublished material
NOTES
Passage about Pyramid and Cross, 1914
Pyramid and Cross derives from Hartley's most fruitful and innovative period of abstract painting, his Berlin years of 1913-15. Inspired by the breakthroughs of Delaunay and Kandinsky into colorfully expressive abstract styles, Hartley devised his own symbolic vocabulary of heiroglyphic and decorative shapes that he freely interspersed in a Cubist space without reference to depth, perspective, or narrative description. The most famous works to emerge were his military paintings, with their kaleidoscopic play of bright color and German military symbols such as flags, Iron Crosses, insignias, and chevrons, all summing up exhuberantly Hanley's curious fascination with the German
military and his impressions of the pageantry of pre-war Berlin. He wrote to Genrude Stein from Berlin in July 1913: "There is an interesting source of material here - numbers & shapes & colors that make one wonder and admire - It is essentially mural this German way of living - big lines & large masses - always a sense of pageantry of living ... "
The present painting, typically drawing upon the German Imperial colors of red, White, and black, is one of the more simplified and stabilized compositions in the series, without the complex overlappings and croppings found elsewhere. Its shapes are absolutely characteristic, however, as can be seen by comparison, for example, with the large Portrait Of a German Officer (1914) in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In these and other paintings the flat pyramid shape
serves as a focal point and carries over, in fact, as a kind of universal sign into some of Hartley's Indian and fantasy themes as well.
----------
Through his constant activity in painting and by his occasional critical reviews and books on art, Marsden Hartley has made varied contributions to the development of American Art. Despite lack of recognition during four -fifths of his life, he said "I had rather be intellectually right than emotionally exuberant," and cheerfully held to his beliefs. Only in his later years did this pioneer for modern art received his full measure of success.
His art education - and a very thorough one - took him to the Cleveland School of Art, Chase School in New York, the National School of Design and to all the important art centers abroad.
He investigated every artistic expression from cubism to regional painting - constantly he traveled and studied. When he wasn't painting he was writing one of his many poems or essays. In his painting his emphasis on design freed him from any literal transcription of subject matter. If a hill were more effective painted in terra cotta against a sea of sapphire, or if a cloud in rectangular form fitted the compositicn more to his liking, he simply painted
it that way.
Since his death in 1943, two memorial exhibitions have been held, by the Phillips Memorial Gallery in Washington and the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. During his lifetime he held twenty-one one-man shows and today his paintings are in the permanent collections of twenty-three of America's important museums.
From Famous American Paintings assembled for the State Fair of Texas, 1948 exhibition cat from Piction
Born in Lewiston, Maine in 1877. Hartley's interest in painting began early in his life. and he received extensive training through both art academies and as a pupil to artists such as Yates. Waldeck, and Chase. At the time of his first show in 1909 his work had an affinity with that of Albert Pinkham Ryder, in its dark, haunting colors. During a brief stay in
Europe from 1912-13, he admired the work of the Cubists, but the Expressionist painting of Marc and Kandinsky were ultimately to have a much greater effect on his work. He was back in New York in time to participate in the Armory show, hut he quickly returned to Europe for another 2 years where his work decidedly turned toward abstract patternization, with bold outlined forms and violent color. Following the end of World War I, he returned to the U.S. and began to evolve a figural style. These tendencies remained the focal point of his life (he died in 1943 in Maine), and during his last 10 years his works were predominately depictions of the land, sky, and sea of New England. The canvases from this period were characterize by massive volumes accentuated with strong dark outlines. Though Hartley never seemed to completely integrate the conflicting claims of French formalism and German emotionalism in his painting, on occasion, such as with "Wave" of 1940, he was able to fuse these tendencies and produce a work that is both symbolic and representative, and speaks with a strange moody power.
Excerpt from
"Primitivism Biographies," DMA research document, Education files, n.d.
-------
biography from Dallas Collects American Paintings page 119
Born in Lewiston, Maine, Hartley moved to Cleveland [Q rejoin his family in 1893 and there studied painting
with John Semon and Cullen Yates and attended classes at the Cleveland School of Art. On a stipend from a
local patron he went to ew York in 1899 [Q study first at the Chase School and then at the National Academy
of Design, where he remained for four years. Working at first in a Style of academic realism, he began to
show signs of the influence of Impressionism and then the mystical landscape style of Albert Pinkham Ryder.
He had his first one-man show at Stieglitz's "291" in 1909 and through "291" came [Q know the art of
Cezanne and Picasso, whose ideas on structure he readily absorbed. In 1912 Hartley traveled [Q Europe and
qUickly became involved in the avant-garde movements centering around Gertrude Stein in Paris and Marc
and Kandinsky in Munich. His painting passed through Cubist and Fauve phases and then under the
influence of Cubism and German Expressionism in[Q intuitive symbolic abstractions which attracted in
Europe and New York considerable attention. After returning [Q the States late in 1915 Hartley settled in New
York but began [Q make regular summer expeditions [Q Province[Qwn, Maine, New Mexico, and California
before returning [Q Europe in 1921. By 1920 his style was becoming increasingly representational and took
on a rustic strength that alludes somewhat to folk art but was used by Hartley as a vehicle for expreSSing his
deep, romantic attachment [Q the landscape and people of rural America. Returning to the U.S. in 1930,
Hanley traveled extensively while working mostly in Maine. Later in life he devoted more and more time to
writing poetry and essays on modern art. He died in Corea, Maine, where he had lived intermittently for
several years.
Marsden Hartley devoted fifty-six of his sixty-six years to experimentation. More than any other artist of his century, he exemplified the confusions of our times. Dualities plagued him from the beginning dualities of intellect vs. emotion, American naturalism vs. European tradition, writing vs. painting, a talent for glib articulation vs. the desire for monosyllabic strength. He traveled widely and feverishly, coming under such diverse influence as Ryder's mysticism, impressionism, Matisse's decoration, analytical cubism and expressionism. He hoped to be the Cezanne of his generation - to carry on where the master had left off. The archetype of Yankee honesty and strength, he fought to rid himself of all formulas and emotional panaceas; in the end he succeeded.
Hartley was born in Lewiston, Maine, in 1877 and died at Ellsworth, Maine, in 1943. His first love had been Nature, and he returned to glorify Her in mature and monumental works dated over the last ten years of his life. At a time when other artists were beginning to win the battle for abstraction and personal expression, Hartley turned his back on nonobjectivism and proudly declared liberation from the undisciplined imagination. He came to believe in the intellect and, above all else, in the ability of the intellect to synthesize life into the simple, the pure and the structurally valid.
Excerpt from
Abstract by Choice, DMCA, 1957
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General Description
Born in Lewiston, Maine, in 1877, Marsden Hartley's interest in painting began early in his life. Hartley moved to Cleveland in 1893 and there studied painting with John Semon and Cullen Yates and attended classes at the Cleveland School of Art. On a stipend from a local patron he went to New York in 1899 to study first at the William Merritt Chase School and then at the National Academy of Design, where he remained for four years. Working at first in a style of academic realism, he began to show signs of the influence of Impressionism and then the mystical landscape style of Albert Pinkham Ryder. He had his first one-man show at Stieglitz's "291" in 1909 and through "291" came to know the art of Paul Cezanne and Pablo Picasso, whose ideas on structure he readily absorbed.
In 1912 Hartley traveled to Europe and quickly became involved in the avant-garde movements centering around Gertrude Stein in Paris and Franz Marc and Wassily Kandinsky in Munich. His painting passed through Cubist and Fauve phases and then under the influence of Cubism and German Expressionism into intuitive symbolic abstractions which attracted considerable attention in Europe and New York. After returning to the States late in 1915, Hartley settled in New York but began to make regular summer expeditions to Maine, New Mexico, and California before returning to Europe in 1921. By 1920 his style was becoming increasingly representational and took on a rustic strength that alludes somewhat to folk art but was used by Hartley as a vehicle for expressing his deep, romantic attachment to the landscape and people of rural America. Returning to the U.S. in 1930, Hartley traveled extensively while working mostly in Maine. Later in life he devoted more and more time to writing poetry and essays on modern art. He died in Ellsworth, Maine, in 1943 where he had lived intermittently for several years.
Adapted from
- Steven A. Nash, Dallas Collects American Paintings: Colonial to Early Modern (exhibition catalogue, Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1982), 119.
- DMA unpublished material
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- YouTube~Watch this lecture from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston titled "Painting from the Past: Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove, and Charles Sheeler."
Notes
Passage about Pyramid and Cross, 1914
Pyramid and Cross derives from Hartley's most fruitful and innovative period of abstract painting, his Berlin years of 1913-15. Inspired by the breakthroughs of Delaunay and Kandinsky into colorfully expressive abstract styles, Hartley devised his own symbolic vocabulary of heiroglyphic and decorative shapes that he freely interspersed in a Cubist space without reference to depth, perspective, or narrative description. The most famous works to emerge were his military paintings, with their kaleidoscopic play of bright color and German military symbols such as flags, Iron Crosses, insignias, and chevrons, all summing up exhuberantly Hanley's curious fascination with the German
military and his impressions of the pageantry of pre-war Berlin. He wrote to Genrude Stein from Berlin in July 1913: "There is an interesting source of material here - numbers & shapes & colors that make one wonder and admire - It is essentially mural this German way of living - big lines & large masses - always a sense of pageantry of living ... "
The present painting, typically drawing upon the German Imperial colors of red, White, and black, is one of the more simplified and stabilized compositions in the series, without the complex overlappings and croppings found elsewhere. Its shapes are absolutely characteristic, however, as can be seen by comparison, for example, with the large Portrait Of a German Officer (1914) in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In these and other paintings the flat pyramid shape
serves as a focal point and carries over, in fact, as a kind of universal sign into some of Hartley's Indian and fantasy themes as well.
----------
Through his constant activity in painting and by his occasional critical reviews and books on art, Marsden Hartley has made varied contributions to the development of American Art. Despite lack of recognition during four -fifths of his life, he said "I had rather be intellectually right than emotionally exuberant," and cheerfully held to his beliefs. Only in his later years did this pioneer for modern art received his full measure of success.
His art education - and a very thorough one - took him to the Cleveland School of Art, Chase School in New York, the National School of Design and to all the important art centers abroad.
He investigated every artistic expression from cubism to regional painting - constantly he traveled and studied. When he wasn't painting he was writing one of his many poems or essays. In his painting his emphasis on design freed him from any literal transcription of subject matter. If a hill were more effective painted in terra cotta against a sea of sapphire, or if a cloud in rectangular form fitted the compositicn more to his liking, he simply painted
it that way.
Since his death in 1943, two memorial exhibitions have been held, by the Phillips Memorial Gallery in Washington and the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. During his lifetime he held twenty-one one-man shows and today his paintings are in the permanent collections of twenty-three of America's important museums.
From Famous American Paintings assembled for the State Fair of Texas, 1948 exhibition cat from Piction
Born in Lewiston, Maine in 1877. Hartley's interest in painting began early in his life. and he received extensive training through both art academies and as a pupil to artists such as Yates. Waldeck, and Chase. At the time of his first show in 1909 his work had an affinity with that of Albert Pinkham Ryder, in its dark, haunting colors. During a brief stay in
Europe from 1912-13, he admired the work of the Cubists, but the Expressionist painting of Marc and Kandinsky were ultimately to have a much greater effect on his work. He was back in New York in time to participate in the Armory show, hut he quickly returned to Europe for another 2 years where his work decidedly turned toward abstract patternization, with bold outlined forms and violent color. Following the end of World War I, he returned to the U.S. and began to evolve a figural style. These tendencies remained the focal point of his life (he died in 1943 in Maine), and during his last 10 years his works were predominately depictions of the land, sky, and sea of New England. The canvases from this period were characterize by massive volumes accentuated with strong dark outlines. Though Hartley never seemed to completely integrate the conflicting claims of French formalism and German emotionalism in his painting, on occasion, such as with "Wave" of 1940, he was able to fuse these tendencies and produce a work that is both symbolic and representative, and speaks with a strange moody power.
Excerpt from
"Primitivism Biographies," DMA research document, Education files, n.d.
-------
biography from Dallas Collects American Paintings page 119
Born in Lewiston, Maine, Hartley moved to Cleveland [Q rejoin his family in 1893 and there studied painting
with John Semon and Cullen Yates and attended classes at the Cleveland School of Art. On a stipend from a
local patron he went to ew York in 1899 [Q study first at the Chase School and then at the National Academy
of Design, where he remained for four years. Working at first in a Style of academic realism, he began to
show signs of the influence of Impressionism and then the mystical landscape style of Albert Pinkham Ryder.
He had his first one-man show at Stieglitz's "291" in 1909 and through "291" came [Q know the art of
Cezanne and Picasso, whose ideas on structure he readily absorbed. In 1912 Hartley traveled [Q Europe and
qUickly became involved in the avant-garde movements centering around Gertrude Stein in Paris and Marc
and Kandinsky in Munich. His painting passed through Cubist and Fauve phases and then under the
influence of Cubism and German Expressionism in[Q intuitive symbolic abstractions which attracted in
Europe and New York considerable attention. After returning [Q the States late in 1915 Hartley settled in New
York but began [Q make regular summer expeditions [Q Province[Qwn, Maine, New Mexico, and California
before returning [Q Europe in 1921. By 1920 his style was becoming increasingly representational and took
on a rustic strength that alludes somewhat to folk art but was used by Hartley as a vehicle for expreSSing his
deep, romantic attachment [Q the landscape and people of rural America. Returning to the U.S. in 1930,
Hanley traveled extensively while working mostly in Maine. Later in life he devoted more and more time to
writing poetry and essays on modern art. He died in Corea, Maine, where he had lived intermittently for
several years.
Marsden Hartley devoted fifty-six of his sixty-six years to experimentation. More than any other artist of his century, he exemplified the confusions of our times. Dualities plagued him from the beginning dualities of intellect vs. emotion, American naturalism vs. European tradition, writing vs. painting, a talent for glib articulation vs. the desire for monosyllabic strength. He traveled widely and feverishly, coming under such diverse influence as Ryder's mysticism, impressionism, Matisse's decoration, analytical cubism and expressionism. He hoped to be the Cezanne of his generation - to carry on where the master had left off. The archetype of Yankee honesty and strength, he fought to rid himself of all formulas and emotional panaceas; in the end he succeeded.
Hartley was born in Lewiston, Maine, in 1877 and died at Ellsworth, Maine, in 1943. His first love had been Nature, and he returned to glorify Her in mature and monumental works dated over the last ten years of his life. At a time when other artists were beginning to win the battle for abstraction and personal expression, Hartley turned his back on nonobjectivism and proudly declared liberation from the undisciplined imagination. He came to believe in the intellect and, above all else, in the ability of the intellect to synthesize life into the simple, the pure and the structurally valid.
Excerpt from
Abstract by Choice, DMCA, 1957
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