About the Object
A single calla lily in a vase occupies the center of the painting. The vase is placed in front of a window, the curtain drawn back to reveal a Bermuda shoreline. On the table next to the vase, Hartley placed a red banana. The curve of the banana, which matches the curtain tie in shape and shade, echoes the curving swath of beach beyond the window that disappears from view to the right. The blue of the sky is echoed in the water, with a darker blue suggesting waves, while areas of pink accent the purple hills in the distance.
Additional Information
Hartley made two trips to Bermuda in his life. He first traveled there with Charles Demuth in December 1916, staying until spring 1917. He returned to Bermuda 18 years later, in the summer of 1935, escaping bronchitis and a difficult winter in New York.
The Artist;
Anderson Galleries, New York, NY, Seventy-Five Pictures by James Rosenberg and 117 Pictures by Marsden Hartley, May 17, 1921, lot H-91;
Paul Rosenfeld, New York, NY, purchased from above sale, 1921–1946;
The Downtown Gallery/Edith Gregor Halpert Collection, New York, NY, from above, at least by 1958–1970;
Estate of Edith Gregor Halpert, New York, NY, 1970–1973;
Sotheby Parke-Bernet, Inc., New York, NY, March 14-15, 1973, The Edith G. Halpert Collection of American Paintings, lot 16, illus. (b&w);
Bernard Danenberg Galleries, Inc., New York, NY, purchased from above sale, 1973;
Private collection;
[Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York, NY, at least by 1984;
Harvey and Francoise Rambach, New Jersey, purchased from above, 1984–1999;
Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, NY, acquired from above, 1999;
Private collection, California, purchased from above;
Christie’s, New York, NY, Private, consigned by above;
Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, NY, purchased at above sale, 2002–2005;
New York, NY. The Anderson Galleries. Seventy-Five Pictures by James N. Rosenberg and 117 Pictures by Marsden Hartley. May 17, 1921, p, 15, cat. no. 91.
Philadelphia, PA. Art Gallery of the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 1956.
Claremont, CA. Montgomery Gallery, Pomona College. Stieglitz Circle: Demuth, Dove, Hartley, Marin, O’Keefe, Weber. October 11- November 15, 1958, cat. no. 32.
Washington, D.C. The Corcoran Gallery of Art. Edith Gregor Halpert Collection. January 16-February 28, 1960, no. 34.
Lisbon, Portugal. Museum of Modern Art. Circulating the Embassies. 1960-61.
Washington, D.C. The Corcoran Gallery of Art. Past and Present, 250 Years of American Art. April 15-September 30, 1966.
San Antonio, TX. McNay Art Institute. Collector’s Gallery. 1971.
New York, NY. Salander-O’Reilly Galleries. Marsden Hartley (1877-1943): Paintings and Drawings. March 6-April 27, 1985, ill. np., cat. no. 7.
New York, NY. Barbara Mathes Gallery. Mabel Dodge: The Salon Years, 1912-1917. September 28- November 2, 1985, ill. np., cat. no. 14.
New York, NY. Salander-O’Reilly. Marsden Hartley 1877-1943: Paintings and Drawings. January 8-February 27, 1988, ill. np., cat. no. 8.
Boca Raton, FL. The Boca Raton Museum of Art. Masterpieces of American Modernism: Selections from the Harvey and Françoise Rambach Collection. March 10-April 23, 1995, pp. 46-47, ill. p. 47.
Roslyn Harbor, NY. Nassau County Museum of Art. American Vanguards. January 21-April 28, 1996, p. 90, ill. frontispiece.
Chapel Hill, NC. The Ackland Art Museum. Seeking the Spiritual: The Paintings of Marsden Hartley (February-March 1998); New York. Babcock Galleries (April 24-June 20, 1998); p. 36, ill. np., pl. 6.
New York, NY. Gerald Peters Gallery. American Modernism: The Françoise and Harvey Rambach Collection. September 30-November 20, 1999, p. 282, ill. pp. 10 and 145.
Hartford, CT. The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Marsden Hartley (January 17-April 20, 2003); Washington, D.C. Phillips Collection (June 7- September 7, 2003); Kansas City, MO. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (October 11, 2003-January 11, 2004); pp. 112, 300, ill. p. 112, pl. 30.
Santa Fe, NM. Gerald Peters Gallery. Objects of Desire: Modern American Still Life Painting. June 28-July 24, 2004, ill. cover of exhibition brochure.
Tulsa, OK. Philbrook Museum of Art. American Galleries. June 2013-June 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. Phoenix Art Museum (June 5-September 6, 2015); Santa Fe. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (September 25, 2015-January 10, 2016).
Chadds Ford, PA. Brandywine River Museum of Art. Rural Modern: American Art Beyond the City (October 29, 2016-January 22, 2017); Atlanta, GA. High Museum of Art (February 12-May 7, 2017), p. 93,128, 142, 189, ill. p. 142, pl. 55.
Lewiston, ME. Bates College Museum of Art. Marsden Hartley: Adventurer in the Arts. September 20-November 19, 2021, pp. 9, 65, 109, 118, 126, 131, ill. p. 127.
Santa Fe, NM. New Mexico Museum of Art. Marsden Hartley: Adventurer in the Arts. April 5-July 25, 2025.
Anonymous. “Art; Exhibitions of Paintings: James N. Rosenberg and Marsden Hartley,” New York Times, May 15, 1921.
Elizabeth McCausland Papers, Marsden Hartley Catalogue Raisonné: Oils, circa 1944-1964. Box 14, Folder 10, Frames 3-6. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Seldis, Henry J. “The Stieglitz Show at Pomona College,” Art in America 46, no. 4 (Winter 1958-1959), ill. p. 64.
Downtown Gallery Records, Artist Notebooks: Hartley, Marsden, undated, 1908-1972. Box 38, Reel 5574, Frames 1060-61, 1104-1105, 1121-1122. Archives of American Art.
Edith G. Halpert Collection, Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York, March 14, 1973, lot 16, ill. np.
Scott, Gail R. Marsden Hartley. New York: Abbeville Press, 1988, p.64, ill. p. 64, fig. 46.
Robertson, Bruce. Marsden Hartley. New York: Abrams, 1995, pp. 72, 74-75, ill. p. 74.
Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, advertisement for The Rambach Collection, The Magazine Antiques 156, no. 1 (July 1999) p. 43.
Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, advertisement The Magazine Antiques 162, no. 2 (August 2002) p. 13.
Private collection, Christie’s, New York, Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculptures, December 5, 2002, pp. 280-281, lot 196, ill. p. 281.
May, Stephen. “Four Decades as a Painter,” Antiques and the Arts Online, February 18, 2003.
Hoashi, Lisa. “Variations on a Landscape.” American Artist (February 2003), illus., as Atlantic Window, 1917, oil on board, 32 x 25 3/4, Private collection.
Weber, Bruce. The Heart of the Matter: The Still Lives of Marsden Hartley. New York: Berry-Hill Gallery, 2003, p.36-37, ill. p. 37, fig. 30.
Nalbone, Heather. “Maine Man,” The Washington Diplomat (July 2003).
Berlind, Robert. “Hartley’s Indicative Objects,” Art in America, November 1, 2003, p.152.
Agee, William C. and Lewis Kachur. Masterpieces of American Modernism: From the Vilcek Collection. London: Merrell, 2013, pp. 13, 62-63, 236, 266, ill. p. 63.
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. 97, 99.
Whitney, Catherine. “Adobe Contours and Windowed Views: Framing a Modern Vision of the Southwest.” in Amanda C. Burdan et al., Rural Modern: American Art Beyond the City (New York: Skira Rizzoli 2016), pp. 82–96.
Walz, Johnathan Frederick, “’What I Have Done with Where I Have Been’: Some Queer American Modernists and the Rural Experience,” in Amanda C. Burdan et al., Rural Modern: American Art Beyond the City (New York: Skira Rizzoli 2016), 128-130.
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