A Return to New Mexico--Tracing the Artistic Journey of Marsden Hartley

Explore the evolution of Marsden Hartley, a forerunner of the American Modernist movement

NEW YORK, April 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A robust collection of paintings, drawings, and belongings of prominent artist Marsden Hartley are now on display at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe. The exhibition Marsden Hartley: Adventurer in the Arts is a tribute to Hartley's personal journey as an artist who would make a significant impact on the American Modernist movement.

Born in New England, Hartley (1877–1943) traveled extensively throughout Europe and North America. His exposure to a multitude of places gave his paintings a unique multicultural perspective. 

"Hartley's significance as an artist can be attributed to his lifelong commitment to learn from cultures and landscapes that differed from those immediately available to him," says President of the Vilcek Foundation Rick Kinsel. "The Vilcek Foundation aims to foster appreciation for the arts and the contributions of immigrants to the United States. By developing Marsden Hartley: Adventurer in the Arts, we are able to showcase both Hartley as a revolutionary modernist and the ways individuals and societies are enriched through cultural exchange."

Organized by the Vilcek Foundation and Bates College Museum of Art in collaboration with the New Mexico Museum of Art, the exhibition comprises numerous historical artifacts as well as 40 paintings and drawings. These artworks span 36 years of Hartley's prolific career and include pieces inspired by his time in the American Southwest.

"I am thrilled to bring the exhibition to the New Mexico Museum of Art, an institution that supported Hartley in the late 1910s when he lived and worked here," says Emily Schuchardt Navratil, Vilcek Foundation curator and exhibit curator and organizer. "New Mexico resonated deeply with Hartley—he wrote of attending Pueblo dances and ceremonies and left the Southwest vowing to return. The closest he came were his New Mexico Recollections, painted in Berlin in the early 1920s, six of which are featured in this exhibition."

The core of this impressive collection was assembled over 20 years by Vilcek Foundation Cofounders Jan and Marica Vilcek and Kinsel. To develop the exhibit, Navratil traveled to many of the locations where Hartley spent his life. This journey led to a crucial partnership with the Bates College Museum of Art, located in Hartley's hometown of Lewiston, Maine. The museum is the center for the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection, which includes many of Hartley's art pieces and personal effects such as mementos from his travels, snapshots, and keepsakes.

Many of these artworks and artifacts will be on display at the New Mexico Museum of Art alongside important paintings by Hartley from the Vilcek Collection including the iconic Schiff (1915), which was created during Hartley's time in Germany. This is only the second time this painting will be shown in the United States.

The exhibition also incorporates interactive stations inspired by Hartley's life and work. Visitors can use a typewriter to record poems or curl up with one of Hartley's books in the book nook. The exhibition will also invite guests to color in passport-style zines, to answer journal prompts, or to complete a scavenger hunt.

Marsden Hartley: Adventurer in the Arts will be on display at the New Mexico Museum of Art until July 25, 2025.

The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation for the arts and sciences. Established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia, the foundation's mission was inspired by the couple's respective careers in biomedical science and art history. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $15 million in grants and prizes to organizations and individuals.

The Vilcek Foundation is a private operating foundation, a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3). To learn more, please visit vilcek.org.

Contact
Shelby Roller
The Vilcek Foundation
212-472-2500
[email protected]

SOURCE The Vilcek Foundation