The American painter and writer Marsden Hartley is almost unknown in Germany and has yet to be discovered as a bold representative of modern art.

Prior to, and after his Berlin years, Hartley cultivated a style of painting that was moderately figurative, however the years 1913 to 1915 marked an apogee of abstraction.

He developed a completely independent vernacular, which placed him at the forefront of the avant-garde of the time. His paintings from this period literally explode off the canvas, they are composed of bright, starkly contrasting colours that directly border one another.

The editors identified, located, and photographed almost all paintings made in Berlin and included them in this long overdue catalogue.

Published with DAP/LACMA