About the Object
Symbol V and Symbol IV feature elements of the natural world reduced to abstract signs that appear appropriated from Hopi and Zuni symbols and motifs. The verticality of the stacked forms in these charcoal drawings suggests the influence of Hopi dance wands. The drawings are filled with symbols of life and growth, from the sun to the branch-like symbols that represent corn.
Additional Information
Symbol V and Symbol IV are part of a group of six charcoal drawings that that connect Hartley’s Amerika works with his German officer series: Military Symbols 1; Military Symbols 2; and Military Symbols 3, all 1914, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and Berlin Symbols #6, 1914–15, in the National Gallery of Art.
The Artist;
Private Collection;
[Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY, 1961];
Private Collection, Buffalo, NY, 1971-97;
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York, NY];
New York. Martha Jackson Gallery. Marsden Hartley – The Berlin Period, 1913-1915: Abstract Oils and Drawings. January 3-31, 1955, cat. nos. 13-18.
Lewiston, ME. Bates College Museum of Art. Marsden Hartley: Adventurer in the Arts (September 20-November 19, 2021); New York. The Vilcek Foundation (March 10-June 16, 2023).
Elizabeth McCausland Papers, Marsden Hartley Catalogue Raisonné: Drawings, [circa 1944-1964]. Box 13, Folder 44, Frames 3, 11, ill. Frame 11. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Elizabeth McCausland Papers, Other Research Files: Tabulation of Art Work, 1953. Box 19, Folder 7, Frame 6. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Levin, Gail. “Wassily Kandinsky and the American Avant-Garde, 1912-1950,” PhD dissertation, Rutgers University, 1976, pp. xi, 90, ill. fig. 31.
Agee, William C. and Lewis Kachur. Masterpieces of American Modernism: From the Vilcek Collection. London: Merrell, 2013, pp. 13, 56, 58-59, 241, 266, ill. p. 59.
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