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What kind of artist was Marsden Hartley?
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Marsden Hartley was a pioneer of the American modernist movement and member of the famed Stieglitz group, which included Georgia O'Keeffe and Arthur Dove. Hartley’s close associations with French avant-garde and German “Der Blaue Reiter” painters inspired his revolutionary painting style involving simplified forms, bold lines, and rich colors. On 1stDibs, find original Marsden Hartley paintings from top sellers around the world.
1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022
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Shop for Marsden Hartley Art on 1stDibs
Dish of Apples and Pears
By Marsden Hartley
Located in Provincetown, MA
Marsden Hartley is a seminal figure in American arts even eighty-plus years after his death. Hartley was a member of Alfred Stieglitz’s groundbreaking circle and painted easel-sized ...
Category
Early 20th Century American Impressionist Still-life Prints
Materials
Lithograph
"Lemons and Pear" Marsden Hartley, Colorful Fruit Still Life, Modern Art
By Marsden Hartley
Located in New York, NY
Marsden Hartley
Lemons and Pear, circa 1922-23
Oil on canvas
9 x 10 3/4 inches
Provenance:
Adelaide Shaffer Kuntz, Bronxville (Hartley’s friend and patron)
Bertha Schaefer Gallery, New York (acquired from the above)
Private Collection, Stamford, Connecticut (acquired from the above)
Barridoff Galleries, Portland, Maine, April 7, 1984, Lot 29 (as Still Life with Pear and Lemons)
Richard Ward Foster (acquired at above sale)
Sotheby's New York, American Art, October 6, 2017, Lot 32
Private Collection (acquired from the above)
Exhibited:
(possibly) Kantstrasse, Berlin, Private showing in artist’s studio, 1923.
(possibly) New York, Bertha Schaefer Gallery, Still Life Painting by European and American Painters, 1944.
Born in Lewiston, Maine, Marsden Hartley became one of the most famous early modernist artists of twentieth-century American art, known for landscapes, still lifes, and some portraits. His painting showed a focus on monumental shapes, especially clouds and landscape forms, and his unique style has been described by critic Sadakichi Hartmann as "an extreme and up-to-date impressionism" and "emerging modernism that evolved through Impressionism". (Gerdts 291)
He had a lonely, insecure childhood because his mother died when he was eight years old, and he was raised by an older sister when his father left to remarry. He studied art in Cleveland, Ohio and then in 1898 went to the Chase School in New York and at the National Academy of Design. He continued to spend much time in Maine painting landscapes, and by 1909 had his first exhibition, which was held at New York Gallery 291, run by Alfred Stieglitz. There he became involved with a social circle of modernists that included Georgia O'Keeffe, Arthur Dove, and John Marin.
In 1912, he first went to Europe where he had further exposure to modernism, and from 1913 to 1915 he was in Germany. In Paris, he experimented with Cezanne-like still lifes and was befriended by Gertrude Stein. In Germany, he was influenced by Expressionism, and especially by military pageantry. It is said that his greatest contribution to early 20th-century American modernism has been his brilliant synthetic military icons known as German Officer Portraits. He developed a close homosexual relationship with a handsome young Prussian officer who was killed in World War I.
Being encouraged by Stieglitz to explore American subjects, Hartley turned to American Indian objects...
Category
1920s Still-life Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Grapes
By Marsden Hartley
Located in New York, NY
A superb, richly-inked impression of this early, very scarce lithograph. Signed and dated in pencil, lower right.
Category
1920s American Modern Still-life Prints
Materials
Lithograph
2019 Marsden Hartley 'Still Life No. 9'
By Marsden Hartley
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Paper Size: 30.75 x 23.5 inches ( 78.105 x 59.69 cm )
Image Size: 28.75 x 23.5 inches ( 73.025 x 59.69 cm )
Framed: No
Condition: A: Mint
Additional Details: Poster for a Marsd...
Category
2010s Contemporary Prints and Multiples
Materials
Offset
Flowers
By Marsden Hartley
Located in New York, NY
On verso: Marsden Hartley
Category
20th Century American Modern Still-life Paintings
Materials
Oil
Basket with Fruit
By Marsden Hartley
Located in Miami, FL
Bold outlines and strong weighty forms coalesce with a compositional delicacy that forms the hallmark of Hartley's work.
The work has a long and distinguished provenance and exhibit...
Category
1920s American Modern Still-life Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil