Flowerpiece (1916)
Technique: Giclée quality print
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Marsden Hartley's painting, "Flowerpiece" from 1916, presents a striking and simplified rendition of a floral subject. The painting features a single, stylized white flower with a pronounced black center, placed in a terracotta vase. This vase sits upon a dual-tone pedestal set against a geometric background that cleverly plays with perspective, framed by a soft neutral tone.The artwork transcends traditional botanical illustration through Hartley's use of flat, bold colors and abstract shapes, giving it a modern and almost graphic appearance. The single flower, rendered almost iconically, becomes a symbol of purity and focus amidst the contrasting earthly tones of the vase and the sharp geometrical lines of the surrounding shapes."Flowerpiece" exemplifies Hartley’s engagement with the modernist impulses of his time, reflecting a movement away from realistic representation towards embracing the emotive capacity of colors and forms.
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Marsden Hartley (1877–1943) is a Maine native and a leading American Modernist painter, along with his contemporaries, Arthur Dove and Georgia O’Keeffe. He is well-known for employing geometric abstraction as well as bold colors and lines. His paintings depicted imagery of nature, landscapes, figures, and still-life. Sponsored by Alfred Stieglitz, Hartley went to Europe in 1912, spending most of his time in Germany, where he met Gertrude Stein, Wassily Kandinsky, and Franz Marc. After returning to America in 1930, he reconnected with the New England of his childhood and started to portray the landscapes of New England in his paintings.