Marsden Hartley

Born in Lewiston, Maine, in 1877, Marsden Hartley became one of the key figures in early American modernism. He studied art in Cleveland and New York, and his career was shaped in part by the support of photographer and gallery owner Alfred Stieglitz, who gave him important early exposure.

Hartley traveled widely and absorbed many influences, including European modernism during stays abroad in the years before World War I. His paintings ranged from lyrical landscapes and still lifes to bold, symbolic works, and he is especially remembered for the way he blended personal feeling with modernist form.

In his later years, Hartley returned often to Maine, where the land and coastal life inspired some of his best-known work. He died in 1943, leaving behind a body of art that helped define a distinctly American voice in modern painting.