About the Object
In this painting, Hartley appropriated elements from Native American culture—imagery that refers to a bird, a stylized cornstalk, a teepee. Set against a flat black background, Hartley painted these elements in a bold palette dominated by red, yellow, and green.
Additional Information
As the title suggests, Berlin Series No. 1 is part of a series of four paintings, of similar dimensions and subject matter, done around the same time, including An abstract arrangement of American Indian Symbols, c. 1914–15, in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University. Created only a year after Indian Pottery, 1912 (2006.05.01), this painting is radically different.
The Artist;
Alfred Stieglitz, New York, NY, c. 1914-1946;
Georgia O’Keeffe, Abiquiu, NM, from above;
Private Collection, New Mexico;
[Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York, NY];
Graham Gallery, New York, NY, purchased from above, 1992;
Carolyn and Roger Horchow, Dallas, TX, purchased from above, 1993;
[Sotheby’s New York, NY, May 19, 2010, lot 9, consigned by above]
Jonathan Boos, New York, NY and Bloomfield Village, MI, purchased from above 2010;
Albuquerque, NM. University of New Mexico, University Art Museum, on extended loan from Georgia O’Keeffe, c. 1974-1987.
Berlin, Germany. Neue Nationalgalerie. Marsden Hartley: The German Paintings, 1913-1915 (April 3-June 29, 2014); Los Angeles. Los Angeles County Museum of Art (August 3-November 30, 2014).
Tulsa, OK. Philbrook Museum of Art. From New York to New Mexico: Masterworks of American Modernism from the Vilcek Foundation Collection (February 8-May 3, 2015); Phoenix, AZ. Phoenix Art Museum (June 5-September 6, 2015); Santa Fe, NM. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (September 25, 2015-January 10, 2016).
Lewiston, ME. Bates College Museum of Art. Marsden Hartley: Adventurer in the Arts. September 20-November 19, 2021, pp. 7, 100, 106, 147, ill. p. 101.
Downtown Gallery. “Alfred Stieglitz Collection: Marsden Hartley.” Washington D.C: Archives of American Art, Frame 550, AS #101, as Berlin Series #1.
George, Douglas. “Three Way Stations in the Career of Marsden Hartley: Berlin, Ogunquit, Aix-en-Provence.” University of New Mexico Museum of Art Bulletin, no. 8 (1974): pp. 18,20, ill. p. 18.
Cassidy, Donna M. “Building Region into Modernism: Marsden Hartley’s Church at Head Tide, Maine, (1938).” Colby Quarterly (2004), pp. 89–90, illus. fig. 68, p. 88 (color).
Scott, Gail R. “Carolyn and Roger Horchow Collection Berlin Series No. 1.” Sotheby’s American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, lot 9 (New York) (May 19, 2010), pp. 21–25, illus. (color), p. 22, as Berlin Series No. 1.
Agee, William C. and Lewis Kachur. Masterpieces of American Modernism: From the Vilcek Collection. London: Merrell, 2013, pp. 56-57, 266, ill. p. 57.
Pochoda, Elizabeth. “Freedom and the abstract truth: Jan and Marica Vilcek’s collection of American modernist art,” The Magazine Antiques (May/June 2013), ill. pp. 94, 98, fig. 5.
O’Hern, John. “Modern Manor,” American Fine Art Magazine, September/October 2013, ill. p. 64.
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