About the Object
In this work, a reverse painting on glass, a single red and white flower in a bright blue vase with pink detailing appears flattened and floating in space. Three leaves project from behind the flower, creating a pinwheel effect.
Additional Information
Hartley encountered Hinterglasmalerei—reverse paintings on glass—at the home of Wassily Kandinsky and Gabriele Münter in Murnau, Germany, in 1913. Their large collection of this Bavarian folk art inspired him to purchase six glass paintings in Munich. Four years later, at a summer art school in Ogunquit, Maine, Hartley tried his hand at the technique, painting about dozen still lifes featuring flowers and ears of corn.
The Artist;
Hamilton Easter Field, from the artist, c. 1917-1922;
Collection of Robert Laurent, Ogunquit, ME and Brooklyn Heights, NY, by descent from above (1922–1970) and [possibly] by descent in the family;
Martin and Harriet Diamond Collection, acquired from above;
Christie Mayer Inc., New York, NY, purchased from above;
[Christies, New York, NY, American Paintings Sale, December 2, 2014, lot 114, consigned by above];
Private collection, Washington, D.C., purchased from above sale, through Gerald Peters Gallery (2004–2021)
(Downing Yudain LLC, Stamford, CT, consigned by above, 2021);
Santa Fe, NM. New Mexico Museum of Art. Marsden Hartley: Adventurer in the Arts. April 5-July 20, 2025.
Elizabeth McCausland Papers, Catalogue Raisonne Files, box 14, folder 11, frame 14. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Bolger, Doreen. “Hamilton Easter Field and His Contribution to American Modernism”. American Art Journal (New York) 20, no. 2 (1988), p. 96, illus., as Still Life.
Christies’s New York. Important American Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture. December 1, 2004, lot 114.
Broun, Elizabeth. “Marsden Hartley at Auction”. In American Art Collecting and Connoisseurship, edited by Stephen M. Sessler, pp. 67–73. London and New York: Merrell Publishers Limited, 2020, p. 69; illus. (color), fig. 1, p. 67, as Still Life.
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