Marsden Hartley memorial collection

Marsden Hartley was an American modernist painter and writer. Hartley, whose given name was Edmund, was born in Lewiston, Maine on January 4, 1877 to James and Eliza Jane Hartley. Hartley's mother died in 1885, and in 1889 he married Martha Marsden and moved to Cleveland, Ohio. In 1893, Hartley followed his father to Cleveland. He attended the Cleveland School of Art (now Cleveland Institute of Art) from 1898-1899. In 1899, he was awarded a five year stipend to study in New York. He enrolled first in the He the Chase School in New York (1899), but soon switched to the National Academy of Design where he remained from 1900 to 1904. In 1906, he adopted his stepmother's name becoming Edmund Marsden Hartley. Between 1904 to 1910, Hartley moved frequently between Maine, Boston, and New York, where he became associated with Alfred Stieglitz. Stieglitz ran 291, then the only gallery in the United States exhibiting modern art. Stieglitz gave Hartley a solo exhibition in 1909 and another in 1912. Shortly thereafter, Hartley moved to Paris, where he became friends with Gertrude Stein, and in 1913 he traveled to Germany where he met Vassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, and other avant-garde artists. The outbreak of World War I forced Harltey to return to the United States. In 1914 and 1916, he exhibited again in solo shows at Gallery 291. Following the War, Hartley returned to Europe, and he spent the majority of his time in various European cities from 1921 to 1930. He continued to move frequently over the next several years, living in Bermuda; Maine; New York; Mexico; Massachusetts; Bavaria; and Nova Scotia. In 1937 to returned permanently to Maine, excepting brief trips to New York. Hartley died in Ellsworth, Maine on September 2, 1943.