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Marsden Hartley (1877-1943)

Born Edmund Hartley on January 4, 1877 in Lewiston, ME, this artist, poet, rebel and most recognized Modernist in American art history may be the most "self-reinvented" artist of all time. At the age of eight his mother died and his father departed, leaving him to be raised by an older sister. At 16 years of age, he joined his father and his new stepmother, Martha (Marsden) Hartley and soon after began his formal art training. Later in life, he adopted his stepmother's maiden surname, Marsden, as his first name. This was just one of many interesting elements of his life.

Hartley's talent won him a five-year scholarship at New York's National Academy of Design, which he began in 1899 at the age of 22. Nearly 10 years later, his impressionist Maine scenes captured the attention of Alfred Stieglitz, the famous photographer who ran gallery 291, the most influential gallery for avant-garde art in the United States in the early 1900's. Hartley had his first solo exhibition at 291 in 1909, and this led to his long-standing affiliation with the Stieglitz circle of artists, writers and cultural critics.

Through the exhibitions organized by Stieglitz, Hartley got his first glimpse of European art - works by Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse and August Rodin. These European masters influenced Hartley's paintings from 1909 to 1911, specifically the vibrant colors used in their works. At this same time, Hartley was also greatly influenced by the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman - men who placed ultimate importance upon the individual's ability to have direct and powerful emotional experiences in nature. His work was the most radical visual expression of this fundamental 19th century view.

Hartley's bond with the landscape caused him to attempt to find a style that could convey the mood he felt in the Maine mountains. He changed to the vigorous brushwork of the impressionists to show his personal experience with the scenes. Hartley challenged himself to invent a completely original style that voiced his subjective feelings and insights. While some painters of the period found their style, others such as Hartley and Picasso shifted radically and often. This was their way of asserting themselves in the face of the changes in the world of politics and culture and everyday life.

Even though his friendship with Stieglitz was retained, Hartley shifted from place to place, living abroad several times and in various locations across the U.S. during the course of his life. He lived in Paris in 1912, painting a series of still lifes and developing a long-time friendship with writer Gertrude Stein. So much did the philosophical debates with Stein influence Hartley, that in 1913 he relocated to Berlin where he discovered an attitude supporting the primacy of the individual. He quickly made his way into the most progressive art circles, while practicing his style of abstraction and alternative lifestyle. The military presence of Berlin impressed Hartley, and bright colors, numbers, military insignia, and cavalry parades characterize his work of this time. Some critics believe that this is the finest work of his career.

When World War I came, it was time to redefine his art once again. The time was 1914 to 1915 and it is thought that Hartley had a dear friend, Karl von Freyburg, who was killed in battle. In tribute to Freyburg, Hartley began a series of paintings that honored war dead and in a guarded way expressed his life in Berlin's vibrant underground culture. They are often referred to as his War Motif or Military series. Again critics are torn, as these works are strong and considered by some to be the best he ever completed.

In 1915 Hartley once again came to New York and exhibited at gallery 291, but this time the reception was disappointing. The negative effect on Hartley was alleviated only when he moved to an artists' retreat in Taos, New Mexico. Here and through the next two decades in Maine, Hartley changed his style yet again. He adopted a more representational form, producing a number of landscapes and still lifes. By 1930, Hartley had come full circle in his approach to his work. Late in his career he immersed himself in the landscape and the common people of Maine, finally achieving the result he struggled for throughout his career--a balance of style and content with the emotional connection he felt so strongly.

For the remainder of his career and until his death in 1943, Hartley continued to struggle with the fundamental dilemma of his art: Was painting a human expression or a mental discipline, perhaps the intellectual solution to the woes of the world? He shared an emotional investment in the hope that it would stir the viewer, and in the process he practiced and offered a variety of styles and methods. Sadly, while he exhibited widely, commercial success in America did not come to Hartley until after his death.

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 13 No. 1 -- November 2002