Marsden Hartley – Madawaska Acadian Light-Heavy (1940)

Louisiana Poster featuring the work, Madawaska Acadian Light-Heavy (1940), by the American artist, Marsden Hartley (1877-1943). Although Marsden Hartley has been called "America's first great modern painter of the 20th century," his original work has long been overlooked. Louisiana presented him in 2019 at the first retrospective exhibition in Europe in over 60 years.

Marsden Hartley was both painter and poet and lived much of his life as a nomad between Europe and the United States, and his work can be considered a bridge between European and American modernism.

His many travels resulted in a series of deeply original groups of works from 1906 to 1943. Among these are abstract paintings based on military symbols from the horrors of the First World War and almost surreal landscapes from New Mexico.

Hartley returned late in life to his native state of Maine and, among other things, embarked on a series of portraits of men, or perhaps especially of their bodies. His models were athletes like this French-Canadian boxer, Madawaska.

Marsden Hartley was centrally located in art life both in Europe and at home. But nevertheless, Hartley's art has been largely unknown—perhaps because of the multifaceted nature of the work, which has made it difficult to place him in art history.

Louisiana's exhibition became one of the largest presentations of Marsden Hartley's art. With over 110 paintings, the exhibition covered the artist's entire work, including his work as a poet and essayist.


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