Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
Memphis, Tennessee
(901) 722-3500
Marsden Hartley: American Modern
Marsden Hartley (1877-1943)
is one of the most important artists from the American early modern period.
He was part of the influential group surrounding Alfred Stieglitz in the
early decades of this century. Arthur Dove, John Marin, Georgia O'Keeffe,
and Paul Strand were among his colleagues and, with Hartley, core artists
of the Stieglitz circle.
This exhibition offers a new and important retrospective
of Hartley, tracing his evolution in both art and philosophy. The artwork,
text panels, and accompanying catalog will explain Hartley's shifting artistic
practice and beliefs in the context of changing cultural and political realities.
Exhibition curator Patricia McDonnell noted, "The
modern period virtually overflows with artists who shifted 
from style to style.
Perhaps Pablo Picasso is the most famous for this rapid change of imagery
and manner of painting--clowns, bulls, Madonnas, and cubist guitars are
all icons of his repertoire. His friend, American painter Marsden Hartley,
whom Picasso met through Gertrude Stein, also evolved quickly and, like
a true modernist, ran through the full gamut of options then open to avant-garde
painters. Hartley is equally well known for his ground-breaking abstract
works and for his lyrical landscapes. This exhibition presents each of Hartley's
many stylistic episodes and attempts to come to grips with why such radical
changes occurred over the course of his productive career. TIME magazine
art critic Robert Hughes said in 1993,"Marsden Hartley is tremendously
important." Our exhibition places that importance in the context of
the times, and doing so, it offers a new reading to Hartley's art."
Works in the exhibition are taken from the single largest
collection of Hartley's work, the Hudson and Ione Walker Collection at the
Weisman Art Museum. Hartley's last dealer and important patron, Hudson Walker
gave the museum a rich collection that spans the artist's career. The exhibition--which
includes 37 paintings, 1? drawings and prints, and two portrait sculptures
of Hartley--runs from August 22 through November 21, 1999.
An 88 page, fully-illustrated catalog accompanies the exhibition.
The exhibition tours the United States for two years: New Orleans, Louisiana;
Memphis, Tennessee; Norman, Oklahoma; San Antonio, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska;
Southampton, New York; University Park, Pennsylvania; Malibu, California;
and West Palm Beach, Florida.
From top to bottom: Landscape, Vence, 1925-26, oil on canvas,
collection Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, bequest
of Hudson Walker from the Hudson and Ione Walker Collection; Still Life,
1912, oil on canvas, collection Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, University
of Minnesota, bequest of Hudson Walker from the Hudson and Ione Walker Collection
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from style to style.
Perhaps Pablo Picasso is the most famous for this rapid change of imagery
and manner of painting--clowns, bulls, Madonnas, and cubist guitars are
all icons of his repertoire. His friend, American painter Marsden Hartley,
whom Picasso met through Gertrude Stein, also evolved quickly and, like
a true modernist, ran through the full gamut of options then open to avant-garde
painters. Hartley is equally well known for his ground-breaking abstract
works and for his lyrical landscapes. This exhibition presents each of Hartley's
many stylistic episodes and attempts to come to grips with why such radical
changes occurred over the course of his productive career. TIME magazine
art critic Robert Hughes said in 1993,"Marsden Hartley is tremendously
important." Our exhibition places that importance in the context of
the times, and doing so, it offers a new reading to Hartley's art."
