The Phillips Collection held in a building of stark dignity and fascinating architecture, obviously from an earlier era, grouped Hartley’s paintings according to the different influences he experienced. For instance, the upper right room housed his paintings from Berlin. Bold and exalting they seemed as if painted for an empire. A strong use of primary colors overtook the senses and gave you power, as if you could command the painting to speak. Some of them did speak and told heroic and sad stories about lost lovers and painful deaths. As you can see the nature of this grouping has an immense aff

Developing a keen sense of artistic as well as political balance was one of the challenges that seized him during his travels. While in Berlin creating pinnacle pieces of his career he was heavily influenced by German culture. German folklore and present-day traditions factored into his style of creativity. His paintings may have been well received except for the political unrest that was occurring in the world at that time. World War I was on the brink of occurring when he brought his paintings to the states to be received by Americans. They were received very poorly because of the obvious anti German sentiment. It was a terrible blow to Marsden’s confidence and creativity. This would be his first interaction that the general public had with his art. It was very traumatic. He went on to create a much more subdued set of paintings after experiencing such rejection for his boldness.

The exhibit it self is a loan exhibit from many different public and private institutions. Compiling such a grand survey of paintings can be very difficult. With all the different related costs and concerns it is an accomplishment to create such a varied installation with so many different sources. This installation of Hartley’s paintings is a great example of how a loan show can be so successful. Collecting many paintings from various facets of his life is a marvelous way to celebrate his life and honor his work. The installation was presented in a very categorical way. Grouping all the paintings according to his variety of styles was the direction that they chose. This gave the viewer a chance to see Hartley as a multifaceted person without the utter confusion of a random presentation. His paintings are so anomalous at times that it would be hard to see him as one artist if you weren’t able to see his work in an organized fashion. The appreciation that the viewer has is inflated by this sense of categorical organization of his at times acutely complex and various styles

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