About the Object
Against a brilliant red background an abstracted bouquet of 16 white roses are bound together with a white ribbon that may represent the body of a seagull. Hartley has flattened the space and removed any sense of place, focusing on a bold, pared-down palette.
Additional Information
Escaping bronchitis and a difficult winter in New York, Hartley traveled to Bermuda in the summer of 1935, his second trip to the island. He began this painting there and took it with him when he left for Nova Scotia in September.
The Artist;
Estate of the Artist, Inv. #175;
Paul Rosenberg & Co., New York, NY, consigned by and then purchased from above, c. 1944–1960;
Maurice and Suzanne Vanderwoude, purchased from above, December 7, 1966;
[Carol Saper Fine Art Ltd., New York, NY];
Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts, New York, NY, purchased from above, 2002;
Slong & Midas Properties, Inc., New York, NY, 2003;
[Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts, New York, NY, consigned by above, 2004-2013];
New York, NY. An American Place. Marsden Hartley: First Exhibition in Four Years All Pictures Show for the First Time Publicly. March 22-April 14, 1936, no. 8.
New York, NY. Zabriskie Gallery. Alfred Stieglitz and An American Place 1929–1946. May 2–June 3, 1978, no. 57.
Southampton, NY. Parrish Art Museum. An American Place. May 24-July 19, 1981, ill. cat. no. 23.
New York, NY. Vanderwoude Tananbaum Gallery. January 13-February 27, 1988.
New York, NY. Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc. The Heart of the Matter: The Still Lifes of Marsden Hartley. May 6-June 27, 2003, pp. 67, 161, ill. p. 119, pl. 39.
New York, NY. Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts booth. Art20. November 2004.
Palm Beach, FL. Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts booth. Palm Beach Art Fair. February 3-12, 2006, pp. 8-9, ill. p. 9.
New York, NY. Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts booth. Art20. November 2008.
New York, NY. Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts booth. Art and Antiques Fair. May 2013.
Lewiston, ME. Bates College Museum of Art. Marsden Hartley: Adventurer in the Arts. September 20-November 19, 2021, pp. 86, 130-131, ill. p. 129.
Santa Fe, NM. New Mexico Museum of Art. Marsden Hartley: Adventurer in the Arts. April 5-July 25, 2025.
Benson, E. M. “Exhibition Reviews: Marsden Hartley Returns to An American Place,” The American Magazine of Art 29 (May 1936), pp. 331–332.
Sayer, Ann. H. “Sea Gulls, Roses, Icons, A Letter Never Sent,” Art News (March 28, 1936).
G. Alan Chidsey, Trustee for the Hartley Estate. Volume of Photographs of Paintings, Pastels, Drawings and Lithographs by Marsden Hartley Washington, D.C 1944–1960. Archives of American Art, G. Alan Chidsey Papers.
Elizabeth McCausland Papers, Marsden Hartley Catalogue Raisonné: Still Life – Oils, [circa 1944-1964]. Box 15, Folder 23, Frames 25-26. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Pisano, R.G. An American Place. New York: Southampton, 1981, n.p., no. 23, ill.
Johnson, Ken. “A Century of Mad Ideas, Tamed and Housebroken,” New York Times, November 19, 2004, ill.
Advertisement for Bernard Goldberg Fine Art, The Magazine Antiques, December 2005, 168, no. 6, p. 1.
Pearl, S. The Aura of Alfred Stieglitz. New York: New York, 2006, p. 9, no. 3, ill.
Brockett, Erik. “American Still Life: Modernist Influences in the Twentieth Century,” Antiques and Fine Art, Summer 2007, pp. 134-41, cover ill.
Rosenberg, Karen. “A Small Show Where Some Sleuthing Is in Order,” New York Times, November 7, 2008.
Pollock, Lindsay. “New York Art Dealer Goldberg to Quit, Sell $10 Million of Art,” Bloomberg, March 4, 2010.
Grant, Daniel. “Goldberg Announces Retirement, Plans to Auction Art at Christie’s,” ARTnews, March 9, 2010.
Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts: The Collection. Christie’s New York. Exceptional American Paintings, Impressionist and Modern Art, and 20th Century Decorative Arts. May 20, 2010, lot 15.
You may also be interested in
Dayton Art Institute opens “Ralston Crawford: Air + Space + War”
The Coloring Book of American Modernist Artists
Coloring Book Inspired by Marsden Hartley
