Traveling Backward--Marsden Hartley and Marisa Merz at the Met Breuer

Late works 1930s - last room first, walking backward through the exhibition to see changes wrought by time and frequent travel to and from Hartley's childhood home. Exhibition LInk

At first view, these paintings look glib, but have real staying power.

Ghost of the Forest, 1938 - oil on prepared paperboard. Submission to Worlds Fair 1938 and acquired by Brooklyn Museum. Logging drive remains with uncut forest beyond. 

Love these paintings -- the arrangements and direct, blunt handling of paint and image. Maine was the center of the logging industry in 1937 when these paintings were made.

A series of Waves.

That sky.

1937

Winslow Homer Waves. Reflecting new trend to contextualize works  with other works. This is a gorgeous painting and must have inspired Hartley with the raw umber coloration of the sky, popping the Veronese green mix below to great effect.

Swoon. How I love these.

Erotica! Madewaska-Acadian Light-Heavy, 1940. French-born immigrant who lived in the location of the painting's title.

Albert Pinkham Ryder for context.

Dark Landscapes 1909-10.

Dark Landscapes 1909-10

Dark Landscapes 1909-10

Detail

Folk Art Inspiration: Still Life--Flowers and Fruit in White and Pink Bowl, 1840-60

Still life, 1917

Detail.

Utagawa Hiroshige, polychrome woodblock print, undated. The print dates below range 1833 - 1849. 

Marisa Merz, in a captivating exhibition that sheds light on the working process as an organic part of life:Museum Link

Loved these drawings, wrought through doodling

Photo, from gallery in her living room

And Kitchen. Loved these.