Marsden Hartley: Adventurer in the Arts

Marsden Hartley (1877–1943), the self-proclaimed “painter of Maine,” spent much of his life traveling far from his New England roots. As a lifelong wanderer, the places he lived and the objects he collected took on enormous significance for him. Certain locations, from Paris to Berlin, New York to New Mexico, served as touchstones throughout Hartley’s life. He returned to some and never really left others; vivid recollections fill his writings, his reminiscences strengthened by the postcards and pressed flowers he kept. Marsden Hartley: Adventurer in the Arts and its accompanying catalogue trace Hartley’s lifelong search for inspiration and invention.

The exhibition, developed by the Vilcek Foundation in collaboration with the Bates College Museum of Art, brings together over 40 paintings and drawings spanning 36 years of the American Modernist artist’s career. The exhibition includes Schiff, 1915, a landmark painting created during Hartley’s time in Germany, which will be shown in the U.S. for only the second time. 

Artworks from the Vilcek and Bates collections will be exhibited alongside a selection of Hartley’s personal effects—mementos from his travels, snapshots, and keepsakes. The remarkable assemblage adds intimacy and depth, as well as a deeper understanding of his art, life, and wanderlust. The exhibition also features three important paintings by Hartley in the collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

Image credit:  Marsden Hartley, Schiff , 1915 Oil on canvas with painted frame, 39 ¾ x 31 7/8 in. The Jan T. and Marica Vilcek Collection, Promised gift to The Vilcek Foundation, 2015.05.01​​