The Marsden Hartley Legacy Project: The Complete Paintings and Works on Paper has officially launched its website, in collaboration with Bates College Museum of Art. This extensive catalogue features over 1600 pieces, including paintings, drawings, pastels, and prints by Marsden Hartley (1877–1943). Each entry is accompanied by photographs, full attributions, and detailed records of provenance, exhibitions, and bibliographies. The project aims to enhance and continue scholarly research on one of the foremost figures in American modernism, documenting more than 2200 exhibitions and 2100 publications related to Hartley’s work. The website will be continually updated with new findings.
In 2019, independent art historian Gail R. Scott initiated the project in partnership with Bates College Museum of Art. As a seasoned curator and contributor to numerous exhibitions of Hartley’s work, Scott is also the author of a monograph on the artist (Abbeville Press, 1988) and editor of his essays (On Art by Marsden Hartley, Horizon Press, 1982) and poetry (The Collected Poems of Marsden Hartley, Black Sparrow Press, 1987). “Gail is the leading authority on all things Hartley,” remarked Carrie Cushman, director of Bates College Museum of Art. “We are fortunate that she identified Bates, located in Hartley’s hometown of Lewiston, Maine, as the ideal host for the Legacy Project.”
Scott reflected, “In the last three years of his life, Marsden Hartley envisioned and aspired for both his visual and literary contributions to gain public recognition. He wanted his paintings displayed prominently and his written works available in libraries for reading. The Marsden Hartley Legacy Project represents a 21st-century realization of that dream, offering a vast repository of his artistic legacy.”
The Marsden Hartley Legacy Project website is designed with an intuitive interface and user-friendly filters to accommodate a wide range of users. It also includes a comprehensive biography, a detailed chronology, a list of the artist’s personal library, analyses of individual and grouped works, and insightful essays by esteemed art historians, establishing the Project as a central hub for studying and appreciating Hartley’s art.
This initiative was made possible through the generous support of the Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, the Vilcek Foundation, the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, and various private donors. The organizers are proud to offer this significant body of research freely to the public. For more information, visit marsdenhartleylegacy.org.
