Marsden Hartley: The Earth Is All I Know of Wonder

A concise survey of Marsden Hartley’s daring innovations in American painting, with reflections on his work by contemporary artists

A defining protagonist in American modernism, the painter and writer Marsden Hartley (1877-1943) was known for the vivid, sharply contrasted colors and abstract geometry in his modernist depictions of mountainous landscapes and abstracted portraits featuring German military imagery.

Though he moved several times across the United States and briefly lived abroad in Europe, attending Gertrude Stein’s salons and drawing inspiration from the German Expressionists, Hartley always maintained a special appreciation for the natural world and eventually returned to his childhood home of Maine to paint local New England scenes. Along with a selection of Hartley’s paintings, this book provides several reflections on the lasting influence of Hartley’s work written by world-renowned contemporary painters, including David Hockney, Dana Schutz, Shara Hughes, David Salle and Alex Katz.