id: 150530 accession number: 1981.83 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1981.83 updated: 2022-04-02 09:00:42.672000 Military, 1914-1915. Marsden Hartley (American, 1877-1943). Oil on canvas; framed: 73.5 x 63.5 x 3.5 cm (28 15/16 x 25 x 1 3/8 in.); unframed: 60.6 x 50.2 cm (23 7/8 x 19 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Professor Nelson Goodman 1981.83 title: Military title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1914-1915 creation date earliest: 1914 creation date latest: 1915 current location: 226A American Modern creditline: Gift of Professor Nelson Goodman copyright: --- culture: America, 20th century technique: oil on canvas department: American Painting and Sculpture collection: American - Painting type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Marsden Hartley (American, 1877-1943) - artist --- measurements: Framed: 73.5 x 63.5 x 3.5 cm (28 15/16 x 25 x 1 3/8 in.); Unframed: 60.6 x 50.2 cm (23 7/8 x 19 3/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: signed on reverse of fabric: Marsden Hartley translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review for 1984 opening date: 1985-04-03T04:00:00 Year in Review for 1984. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 3-May 5, 1985). title: Dictated by Life: Marsden Hartley's German Paintings and Robert Indiana's Hartley Elegies opening date: 1995-04-14T04:00:00 Dictated by Life: Marsden Hartley's German Paintings and Robert Indiana's Hartley Elegies. Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN (organizer) (co-organizer) (April 14-June 11, 1995); Terra Museum of American Art (July 1-September 10, 1995); The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami, FL (October 1-December 2, 1995). title: Made in U.S.A., l'art américain, 1908-1943, entre nationalisme et internationalisme [FRAME] opening date: 2001-10-05T00:00:00 Made in U.S.A., l'art américain, 1908-1943, entre nationalisme et internationalisme [FRAME]. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, F-33000 Bordeaux, France (organizer) (October 5-December 31, 2001); Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes, Rennes, France (January 17-March 31, 2002); Musée Fabre, Montpellier, France (April 10-June 25, 2002). title: The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2006-06-09T00:00:00 The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * --- PROVENANCE The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio date: 1981- footnotes: citations: Professor Nelson Goodman [1906-1998], Cambridge, MA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: Probably 1956-1981 footnotes: * Goodman purchased the painting directly from Charles Demuth's heir, Robert Locher, and his partner, Richard Weyand. citations: Robert Locher [1888-1956], Lancaster, PA, sold to Nelson Goodman date: 1935-probably 1956 footnotes: * Locher, Demuth's longtime companion, was the principal beneficiary of his estate. According to Nelson Goodman, the painting had been hanging in the Demuth house in Lancaster, PA, where Locher had resided with his partner, Richard Weyand, since Demuth’s death in 1935. Goodman indicates that he purchased the painting from Demuth's "heirs," Locher and Weyand; however, only Locher was Demuth's heir. It is possible that Weyand should also be included in this provenance: if Goodman bought the painting in 1956 after Locher's death but before Weyand's several months later, than Weyand would have been the owner at the time of the purchase. citations: Charles Demuth [1883-1935], Lancaster, PA, by descent to Robert Locher date: After 1921-1935 footnotes: * At some point, Charles Demuth, Hartley's close friend, obtained the painting. While Demuth knew Barnes well and often visited him, the exact circumstances surrounding the former's acquisition of the painting are unknown. citations: Albert C. Barnes [1872-1951], Philadelphia, PA date: 1921- footnotes: * Barnes purchased this painting, along with three others, at the sale of Hartley's collection on May 10, 1921. Shortly after the auction, Barnes asked Hartley about the possibility of purchasing two more paintings, which Hartley was offering for $350 each. Barnes offered only $50, and Hartley passed the letter to his dealer, Alfred Stieglitz, who never responded. After the incident, Barnes stopped acquiring works by Hartley and eventually removed Military from his collection. citations: (Hartley sale, Anderson Galleries, New York, May 10, 1921, as “Pre-War Pageant, 1913," sold to Albert C. Barnes) date: 1921 footnotes: * By the spring of 1921, Hartley had become desperately poor, having failed to attract any real following in the United States, and so he was forced to sell off a large portion of his oeuvre at auction. citations: Collection of the artist date: 1914/1915-1921 footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: Hartley was one of the first modern artists to paint abstractions. digital description: This abstract portrait is a memorial tribute to a German lieutenant named Karl von Freyburg with whom Hartley had been in love. The artist described von Freyburg’s death as an "unendurable agony," and created a series of deeply personal paintings in response. Here the shapes and color patterns suggest flags, banners, targets, epaulets, and other military paraphernalia. wall description: This abstract portrait is a memorial tribute to one of the earliest casualties of the First World War, a German lieutenant named Karl von Freyburg with whom Hartley had been in love. The artist described von Freyburg’s death as an "unendurable agony," and created a series of deeply personal paintings in response. Typical of Hartley’s work of the period, the composition is full of symbols that function like a code to be deciphered. Here the shapes and color patterns suggest flags, banners, targets, epaulets, and other military paraphernalia. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS