Marsden Hartley

1911

Alfred Stieglitz

Associated Names
Alfred Stieglitz

Artist, American, 1864 - 1946

The image displays a close-up portrait of a man facing to the left. The man has pronounced facial features, including a prominent nose, a strong jawline, and a visible ear. He has short, neatly combed back hair and is wearing a formal suit with a white collar and tie. The background is dark and untextured, emphasizing the man's profile. The lighting creates shadowed contours that enhance the detail of his profile.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    platinum print

  • Credit Line

    Alfred Stieglitz Collection

  • Dimensions

    image: 22.5 x 17.7 cm (8 7/8 x 6 15/16 in.)
    sheet: 23.2 x 19 cm (9 1/8 x 7 1/2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1949.3.320

  • Stieglitz Estate Number

    31E

    Part of Stieglitz Key Set Online Edition

    Learn more

  • Key Set Number

    370

The image shows a man leaning his head on his hand, positioned with his face resting on his left hand. He has a mustache, thin-framed eyeglasses, and thick, greying hair that curls slightly at the edges. He is dressed in a formal jacket, a white shirt, and a black bow tie. The background is a soft, dark blur.

Alfred Stieglitz

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Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Georgia O'Keeffe; gift to NGA, 1949.

Associated Names

Bibliography

2002

  • Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 1, cat. 370.

Inscriptions

by Alfred Stieglitz, on mount, upper left verso, in graphite: Marsden Hartley / 1911 / Exhibition 1921
by Georgia O'Keeffe, on mount, lower left verso, in graphite: 31 E

Wikidata ID

Q64034831

Scholarly Remarks and Key Set Data

Remarks

Shortly after meeting Stieglitz in 1909 Hartley emphatically declared that he would “have a show at 291 or nowhere.” Stieglitz, who believed in Hartley’s work because, as he wrote, “I felt a spirit I liked—or rather thought very worthwhile,” gave the Maine-born artist his first exhibition at 291 that spring (26 October 1923, YCAL). Stieglitz subsequently raised funds to enable Hartley to travel extensively in Europe from 1912 through 1915, resulting in some of the most accomplished art of his career. For the next twenty-eight years Stieglitz continued to promote Hartley’s work, exhibiting it at the Intimate Gallery in the 1920s and at An American Place in the 1930s. Yet the tenor of Stieglitz’s remarks also reflects their troubled relationship. Hartley depended greatly on Stieglitz for financial support, and chafed that other artists were more celebrated. In 1937 Hartley and Stieglitz severed their professional relationship.

In the checklist for his 1921 exhibition Stieglitz lists two portraits of Hartley, nos. 36 and 37, both dated 1915. In all likelihood, this work and Key Set number 429 were exhibited.

Lifetime Exhibitions

A print from the same negative—perhaps a photograph from the Gallery’s collection—appeared in the following exhibition(s) during Alfred Stieglitz’s lifetime:

1921, New York (no. 36, as Marsden Hartley, 1915)

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