Marsden Hartley's Maine at Met Breuer - Beautiful & Painful Tribute to Artists Home State

The incredible collection of Marsden Hartley's (b Amer 1877-1943) paintings pay tribute to the beautiful inland & ocean landscapes of his Maine homestate.  The expansive exhibition of Hartley's oil paintings span his career.  Several of these important works have never been shown outside of Maine.  The earlier paintings have layered, vibrant colors that oscillate and shimmer.  These paintings have a pointillism aesthetic that lend a visceral response to a rippling breeze or blazing sunlight. Note "The Silence of the High Mountains."  It's hard not to feel the billowing in the trees and sense the warmth of golden light on the hills.  Hartley is a regarded poet.  He mentions various poets & artists who influenced him such as Walt Whitman, composer Edvard Grieg and painter Paul Cezanne.  Hartley's body of work resound with an imposing cadence of their own.  Harley maintained a lasting friendship with Alfred Stieglitz with whom he corresponded.  Amongst the effervescent works are darker more somber paintings.  He revealed to Stieglitz in a letter the dark & lonely days he spent in ME after his mother's death & his family moved leaving him behind to work.  There are a collection of very ominous, dark paintings referred to by Hartley in a letter as "…sad recollection{s that} rushed into my very flesh like sharpened knives."  His poetic tendencies are predominately expressed in vibrant colors, lush countryside scenes & foaming waves along the shores.  Hartley pays homage to Winslow Homer with paintings that make you feel & hear the sounds of the crashing ocean.   In addition to his landscape paintings, Hartley captures heroic portraits of Maine's fishermen & hunters.  Many of the handsome & robust figures are portrayed with blonde hair & blue eyes.  The curator states Harley as having "…an Aryan bias that he harbored thoughout his life."  Yet, next to a painting of a trio of fair haired men is a painting of a dark skinned prize fighter.  Harlety wrote to Steiglitz regarding this model, "…the model is a wonder and we are quite friends now."  While Hartley's heart remained in Maine, he detested tourists and their penchant for seeking out Maine's landmarks & lighthouses.  There is a startling painting of a lighthouse that appears violently tossing amongst the rocky shores.  The painting that captivated me most was in the last gallery, "Mount Sainte-Victore (1927) done while living in France.  It's exquisite with its radiating jewel tones. Near the end of his career, Hartley returned to mountainous landscapes which reflect a feeling of remoteness and isolation.  MARSDEN HARTLEY'S MAINE is an exhibit that emblazons the natural wonder of the artist's homestate.  See this enthralling body of work before it leaves New York's Met Breuer Museum.