Colby exhibit produced with Metropolitan Museum of Art
WATERVILLE — Marsden Hartley, poet as well as painter, found in the roots of his home state the inspiration which has made his work famous. After years of travel in Europe, Hartley, a cosmopolitan, came home to find the simple beauty of nature in Maine, his muse, which inspired his best work at the end of his life.
Hartley was born in Lewiston in 1877 and died in Ellsworth in 1943. “Marsden Hartley’s Maine,” now showing at the Colby College Museum Of Art, spans the range of his career, from the early 1900s to the early 1940s. Ninety paintings and a dozen delicate drawings from Bates College Museum of Art are included in the exhibit which was organized by both the Colby and the Metropolitan Museum Art in New York, where it was shown from March through June.
The Colby exhibit is hung beautifully; each work seems to have breathing space. It is a special treat to be able to see the exhibit here in Maine for people who do not travel, as well as tourists who visit Maine in the summer, and for all our students.
The exhibit is co-curated by Elizabeth Finch, Lunder curator of American art at Colby; Donna Cassidy, professor of American and New England studies and art history at the University of Southern Maine; and Randall Griffey, curator in the department of modern and contemporary art of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Co-curator Cassidy said in her book, “Marsden Hartley: Race, Religion, and Nation,” University Press of New England, (2005), “The notion that Great Art comes from an artist’s connection to a specific place or region emerged as Hartley became part of the Modern Art Movement in America.” With World War II approaching, the author pointed out, Hartley came back to Maine to search for his roots. Maine became his muse. Many early works in the exhibit are dark and moody, but in his best works the beauty of Maine’s natural resources blossom with exciting colors of blue, orange, green, with dark purple of black mountains against the horizon.
During the press tour of the exhibit, co-curator Finch pointed out the mountains in Hartley’s paintings, noting “Mountains are a symbol of majesty, stability and strength.”
Hartley’s early work, like “Shady Brook,” oil on canvas (1902) given to the Lewiston Public Library by Hartley, shows a very somber side of the artist. “Desertion” an oil on poster board (1910), and “The Ice Hole Maine” oil on canvas (1908) are early poignant works.
My favorites are his later works, which have more light, like — “City Point Vinalhaven,” oil on paper board (1937), “The Lighthouse,” oil on masonite (1940-41), and “Log Jam Penobscot Bay,” oil on masonite (1940-41). These works show the development of his style using black outlined images depicting the logging sites. Brighter colors depicting mountain landscapes emerge during this period, as well. His later style becomes simple and direct, almost primitive in its form and purity of expression.
Other outstanding works in the exhibit include: “Hall of the Mountain King,”oil on canvas (1908) and “Landscape No. 36” oil on paperboard (1908). These works show Hartley exploring texture, layered planes, vibrant colors and a combination of impressionism and expressionism in style. Hartley was influenced by Cezanne and other European artists including German expressionists.
But by the time the artist came back to America in the mid-to-late ’30s, his style changed. In Maine, he focused on nature and his spirit was united in the land formations of our state, its wood industry, and its mountains in beautiful works like, “Ghosts of the Forest” oil on board (1938) and ”Log Jam Penobscot Bay,” oil on masonite (1940-41).
One of the most outstanding works in the exhibit is ”Mount Katahdin Autumn,” oil on canvas (1939-40), with its blue sky, deep purple/black mountains on the horizon, orange middle areas depicting the changing colors of trees, and a body of water in the lower forefront of the painting. This refreshing view of nature in Maine is uplifting and is what we think of when recalling Hartley’s style.
Toward the end of his life, Hartley became interested in folk art and simple forms, thinking they were a more authentic and creative expression of the soul. Hartley’s paintings are an expression of his soul united to Maine. He wanted to be known as “The Painter of Maine.”
Hartley was also a poet, who expressed his love of place in both poems and paint. Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson were his literary mentors.
Many of Hartley’s paintings of humans are flat, geometric and primitive in purity of form. Works like: “Down East Young Blades,” oil on masonite (1940), and ”Young Hunter Hearing Call to Arms,” oil on masonsite (1939), are examples of this type of Hartley’s style. “Canuck Yankee Lumberjack at Old Orchard Beach,”oil on masonite -type hardboard (1940-41), which is reproduced on the poster of the exhibit and invitation to the opening, is created in the same flat, simplified expression and shows the masculinity of male bathers at Old Orchard Beach.
Other artists associated with the Modern Art Movement in America who celebrated Maine during the same period, include: John Marin, Robert Laurent, Waldo Pierce, William and Marguerite Zorach, Gaston Lachaise and Walt Kuhn, to name only a few.
For Hartley lovers be sure to see both the Colby exhibit in Waterville and the Hartley drawings and memorabilia at Bates College in Lewiston this summer.
It is a Marsden Hartley year in the art world — from New York To Maine!!
Colby hours: Tuesday- Sat 10 a.m. -5 p.m. Sunday noon to 5. closed Monday.Free of charge.
What: “Marsden Hartley’s Maine”
Where: Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville
When: July 8- Nov. 12
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday noon to 5 p.m. Closed Monday. Free of charge.
Artist receives prestigious award
WATERVILLE — An important part of the major summer exhibit at Colby is presentation of the Cummings Award for Excellence in Art. This year David C. Driskell nationally known artist, scholar and writer, who lives in Maine during summers, was the winner of the prestigious award.
The Cummings Award is named for Willard (Bill) W. Cummings, a portrait artist, and one of the founders of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and whose family inspired the early growth of the Colby Museum of Art in the late 1950s.
“Maine is a special place for me, a place where I feel welcome. It is a pleasure to accept the Cummings Award for Art Excellence from Colby because I knew Bill Cummings. He gave me my first experience creating my own paints from powder for my work in Maine at his art school in 1952 as a student. I had used commercial paints before attending Skowhegan,” Driskell said at the opening ceremonies.
“My family and I eventually bought a home in Maine because we love it,” Driskell said, adding that the pine tree has become an “important symbol in my work because of its spiritual importance. Pine trees never change. They are evergreen all year around.”
Remarking on the Hartley exhibit, Driskell said “Hartley’s respect for the natural beauty of Maine is an important factor in his contribution to the Modern Art Movement in America.”