Having painted a series of dark landscapes inspired by the work of Albert Pinkham Ryder in 1909, Hartley returned to his American artistic hero late in his career. This highly imaginative portrait of Ryder is Hartley’s posthumous tribute to the painter, whose isolated, melancholy existence and financial poverty struck a sympathetic chord in him. In the portrait, Ryder appears frontal and isolated, like a saint or an icon. Hartley also composed a poem and several essays about the artist, including one in which he describes Ryder’s eyebrows as "lichens overhanging rocks of granite."
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Artwork Details
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Title:Albert Pinkham Ryder
Artist:Marsden Hartley (American, Lewiston, Maine 1877–1943 Ellsworth, Maine)
Date:1938
Medium:Oil on commercially prepared paperboard (academy board)
Dimensions:28 × 22 in. (71.1 × 55.9 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Edith and Milton Lowenthal Collection, Bequest of Edith Abrahamson Lowenthal, 1991
Accession Number:1992.24.4
Inscription: Inscribed (verso, center): Albert Ryder / Seen out at night / 8th Avenue & 15th Street / New York
the artist (1938–d. 1943; his estate, 1943–46; on consignment in 1942 to William Macbeth, Inc., New York; on consignment by February 1944–46 to Paul Rosenberg Gallery, New York; sold on October 31, 1946 to Rosenberg); [Paul Rosenberg, New York, 1946; no. 1130 793; sold on November 25, 1946 to Lowenthal]; Edith and Milton Lowenthal, New York (1946–his d. 1987); Edith Lowenthal, New York (1987–d. 1991; her bequest to MMA)
New York. Hudson Walker Gallery. "Marsden Hartley, 25th One Man Show," March 6–April 8, 1939, no. 9 (as "Albert P. Ryder. Seen only at night, Eighth Avenue at 15 Street [from memory]").
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Twentieth Century Portraits," December 9, 1942–January 24, 1943, unnumbered cat. (p. 137; lent by the Macbeth Gallery, New York).
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Twentieth Century Portraits," February 12–March 7, 1943, unnumbered cat.
Worcester, Mass. Worcester Art Museum. "Twentieth Century Portraits," March 21–April 18, 1943, unnumbered cat.
Arts Club of Chicago. "Twentieth Century Portraits," May 4–31, 1943, unnumbered cat.
San Francisco. California Palace of the Legion of Honor. "Twentieth Century Portraits," June 14–July 12, 1943, unnumbered cat.
City Art Museum of Saint Louis. "Twentieth Century Portraits," October 1–29, 1943, unnumbered cat.
Flint, Mich. Flint Institute of Arts. "Twentieth Century Portraits," November 20–December 18, 1943, unnumbered cat.
Utica, N.Y. Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. "Twentieth Century Portraits," January 1–29, 1944, unnumbered cat.
West Palm Beach, Fla. Norton Gallery and School of Art. "Twentieth Century Portraits," February 11–March 10, 1944, unnumbered cat.
Winter Park, Fla. Rollins College. "Twentieth Century Portraits," March 18–April 8, 1944, unnumbered cat.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Marsden Hartley," October 24, 1944–January 14, 1945, unnumbered cat. (p. 74; as "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder," 1938–39, lent by the estate of the artist, courtesy of Paul Rosenberg).
Williamstown, Mass. Lawrence Art Museum, Williams College. "Marsden Hartley," February 22–March 15, 1945.
University of Texas at Austin. "Marsden Hartley," April 1–29, 1945.
Taylor Museum, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. "Marsden Hartley," May 13–June 20, 1945.
San Francisco Museum of Art. "Marsden Hartley," June 24–July 22, 1945.
Minneapolis. Walker Art Center. "Marsden Hartley," September 16–October 14, 1945.
Jacksonville, Ill. MacMurray College. "Marsden Hartley," October 28–November 25, 1945.
Arts Club of Chicago. "Marsden Hartley Memorial Exhibition," December 7–31, 1945, no. 24 (as "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder").
Buffalo, N.Y. Albright Art Gallery. "Marsden Hartley," January 20–February 17, 1946.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Albert P. Ryder Centenary Exhibition," October 18–November 30, 1947, no. 56 (lent by Mr. Milton Lowenthal).
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Themes and Variations in Painting and Sculpture," April 15–May 23, 1948, no. 8 (as "Portrait of Ryder," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Milton Lowenthal, New York City).
New York. Wildenstein. "Loan Exhibition of Seventy XX Century American Paintings," February 21–March 22, 1952, no. 14 (as "Portrait of Ryder," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Milton Lowenthal).
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Edith and Milton Lowenthal Collection," October 1–November 2, 1952, no. 45 (as "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder").
Minneapolis. Walker Art Center. "Edith and Milton Lowenthal Collection," November 28, 1952–January 17, 1953, no. 45.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Man and His Years," October 19–November 21, 1954, no. 72 (as "Portrait of Albert P. Ryder," 1938–39, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Milton Lowenthal).
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: A 25th Anniversary Exhibition," May 31–September 5, 1955, no. 61 (as "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder," 1938–39, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Milton Lowenthal).
Utica, N. Y. Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute. "Portraiture: The 19th and 20th Centuries," March 31–April 21, 1957, no. 19 (as "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder," lent by Edith and Milton Lowenthal).
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Portraiture: The 19th and 20th Centuries," May 14–June 16, 1957, no. 19.
Dallas Museum of Art. "Portraiture: The 19th and 20th Centuries," June 30–August 18, 1957, no. 19.
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. "Portraiture: The 19th and 20th Centuries," September 1957, no. 19.
Brooklyn Museum. "Face of America: The History of Portraiture in the United States," November 14, 1957–January 26, 1958, no. 84 (as "Portrait of Albert P. Ryder," 1938–39, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Milton Lowenthal).
Claremont, Calif. Pomona College Galleries. "Stieglitz Circle: Demuth, Dove, Hartley, Marin, O'Keeffe, Weber," October 11–November 15, 1958, no. 28 (as "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Milton Lowenthal, New York).
San Antonio, Tex. Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute. "Marsden Hartley," December 1–30, 1960, no. 39 (as "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder," 1938–39; lent by Mr. and Mrs. Milton Lowenthal, New York City).
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. "Marsden Hartley," February 3–March 6, 1961, no. 39.
Amerika Haus, Berlin. "Marsden Hartley," March 15–April 6, 1961, no. 39.
Kunstmuseum der Stadt Düsseldorf. "Marsden Hartley," May 10–June 1, 1961, no. 39.
American Embassy, London. "Marsden Hartley," June 15–July 15, 1961, no. 39.
Portland, Me. Portland Museum of Art. "Marsden Hartley," August 11–September 2, 1961, no catalogue.
Minneapolis. Walker Art Center. "Marsden Hartley," September 24–October 29, 1961, no. 39.
Saint Louis. City Art Museum. "Marsden Hartley," November 15–December 15, 1961, no. 39.
Cincinnati Art Museum. "Marsden Hartley," January 1–31, 1962, no catalogue.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Marsden Hartley," March 7–April 8, 1962, no catalogue.
New York. AFA Gallery. "Selections from the Edith and Milton Lowenthal Collection," May 25–June 5, 1964, no catalogue.
New York. Bernard Danenberg Galleries, Inc. "Marsden Hartley: A Retrospective Exhibition," September 16–October 4, 1969, no. 34 (as "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder," 1938–39, lent by a private collection).
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Marsden Hartley," March 4–May 25, 1980, no. 84 (as "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder," 1938–39, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Milton Lowenthal, New York City).
Art Institute of Chicago. "Marsden Hartley," June 10–August 3, 1980, no. 84.
Fort Worth. Amon Carter Museum of Western Art. "Marsden Hartley," September 5–October 26, 1980, no. 84.
University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley. "Marsden Hartley," November 12, 1980–January 4, 1981, no. 84.
Brooklyn Museum. "Modernist Art from the Edith and Milton Lowenthal Collection," March 21–May 10, 1981, no. 32 (as "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder").
New York. Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, Inc. "Marsden Hartley: The Late Figure Works," June 4–30, 1990, no. 5 (as "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder," 1938–39; lent by Edith and Milton Lowenthal).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Art: The Edith and Milton Lowenthal Collection," October 10, 1996–January 12, 1997, unnumbered cat. (p. 10; published in MMA Bulletin 54, summer 1996).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Direct Eye: Self-Taught Artists and Their Influence on Twentieth Century Art," June 19–October 18, 1998, no catalogue.
Hartford. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. "Marsden Hartley," January 17–April 20, 2003, no. 71 (as "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder").
Washington, D. C. Phillips Collection. "Marsden Hartley," June 7–September 7, 2003, no. 71.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. "Marsden Hartley's Maine," March 15–June 18, 2017, unnumbered cat. (fig. 50).
Waterville, Me. Colby College Museum of Art. "Marsden Hartley's Maine," July 8–November 12, 2017, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s," September 5–December 10, 2023, unnumbered cat. (pl. 55).
Martha Candler Cheney. Modern Art in America. New York, 1939, pl. 30, calls it "Portrait of Ryder".
"Hartley's Figures." Time 33 (March 20, 1939), p. 26, ill.
Monroe Wheeler. 20th Century Portraits. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1942, pp. 25, 137, dates it about 1938–39.
Rosamund Frost. "Portraits: Likeness or Commentary?" Art News 41 (December 15–31, 1942), p. 25.
M[anny]. F[arber]. "Portraits at Museum of Modern Art." Magazine of Art 36 (January 1943), pp. 17, 19, ill.
"Maine Man." Time 44 (November 20, 1944), p. 50, ill.
Alice Frost Lord. "Journal Wayfarer." Lewiston Evening Journal (November 21, 1944), p. 4.
Marsden Hartley. Selected Poems: Marsden Hartley. Ed. Henry W. Wells. New York, 1945, ill. preceding p. 103.
Donald Goodall. "University of Texas Art Department Has Retrospective Show on Marsden Hartley." Austin American (April 15, 1945), p. 8.
Gertrude Rosenthal. Themes and Variations in Painting and Sculpture. Exh. cat., Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore, 1948, p. 18, no. 8, ill.
Elizabeth McCausland. "The Return of the Native: Marsden Hartley." Art in America 40 (Spring 1952), p. 74, ill. front cover.
Elizabeth McCausland. Marsden Hartley. Minneapolis, 1952, pp. 5, 10, 57.
Olive L. Riley. Your Art Heritage. New York, 1952, p. 272, fig. 251, calls it "Albert P. Ryder".
Hilton Kramer. "Hartley's Lonely Vigil." Art Digest 28 (June 1, 1954), ill. p. 8, as "Portrait of Ryder".
Gertrude Rosenthal. Man and His Years. Exh. cat., Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore, 1954, pp. 12, 32, no. 72, ill. p. 31.
Frederick S. Wight inNew Art in America: Fifty Painters of the 20th Century. Ed. John I. H. Baur. Greenwich, Conn., 1957, p. 78, ill. p. 73, calls it "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder" and dates it 1938–39.
Joseph S. Trovato. Portraiture: The 19th and 20th Centuries. Exh. cat., Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute. [Utica, N.Y.], 1957, pp. 6, 30, no. 19, ill. p. 20.
Sheldon Cheney. The Story of Modern Art. Rev. and enl. ed. (1st ed, 1941). New York, 1958, pp. 607–8, ill., calls it "Portrait of Ryder".
Elizabeth McCausland. Marsden Hartley. Exh. cat., McNay Art Institute, San Antonio. [Amsterdam], [1960], unpaginated, no. 39, ill.
Hilton Kramer. "Hartley and Modern Painting." Arts 35 (February 1961), ill. p. 45, dates it 1938–39.
"Marsden Hartley: Expressionist." Minneapolis Sunday Tribune (September 17, 1961), ill. p. 24 (color).
Alan Bowness. "At the Galleries: Two Solitaries." Observer (June 18, 1961), p. 27.
"An Expatriate's Art—In Retrospect." Cincinnati Pictorial Enquirer (January 7, 1962), p. 12, ill.
Henry T. Hopkins. "Marsden Hartley's 'The Lost Felice'." Los Angeles County Museum of Art Bulletin 16, no. 3 (1964), p. 11, fig. 7, calls it "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder," dates it 1938–39, and lists it still in the collection of the estate of the artist.
Hudson Walker, Elizabeth McCausland, and Mary Bartlett Cowdrey. "Marsden Hartley." Archives of American Art Journal 8 (January 1968), p. 18.
Peter Plagens. "Marsden Hartley Revisited; or, Were We Really Ever There?" Artforum 7 (May 1969), p. 43.
Sanford Schwartz. "A Northern Seascape." Art in America 64 (January–February 1976), p. 76, ill.
Barbara Haskell. Marsden Hartley. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 1980, pp. 116, 219, no. 84, fig. 101, colorpl. 103.
Sarah Faunce inThe Edith and Milton Lowenthal Collection. Exh. cat., Brooklyn Museum. New York, 1981, pp. 30–31, no. 32, ill.
Vivien Raynor. "Art: Lowenthals Display Collection in Brooklyn." New York Times (May 1, 1981), p. C20.
Gail R. Scott, ed. On Art by Marsden Hartley. New York, 1982, p. 301, fig. 10, calls it "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder" and dates it 1938–39.
Gerald Ferguson inMarsden Hartley and Nova Scotia. Ed. Gerald Ferguson. Exh. cat., Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery. Halifax, 1987, p. 13, calls it "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder".
Ronald Paulson inMarsden Hartley and Nova Scotia. Ed. Gerald Ferguson. Exh. cat., Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery. Halifax, 1987, p. 20, ill. p. 22, calls it "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder" and dates it 1938–39.
Gail R. Scott, ed. The Collected Poems of Marsden Hartley, 1904–1943. Santa Rosa, Calif., 1987, p. 344, calls it "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder" and dates it 1938–39.
Gail R. Scott. Marsden Hartley. New York, 1988, pp. 114, 135, 137, 169, colorpl. 101, calls it "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder" and dates it 1938–39.
Roberta Smith. "Hartley's Later Works Show a Talent Distilled." New York Times (June 29, 1990), p. C15.
Townsend Ludington. Marsden Hartley: The Biography of an American Artist. Boston, 1992, pp. 63, 261–62, ill. n.p., calls it "Portrait of Albert Pinkham Ryder" and dates it 1938–39.
Donna M. Cassidy. "'On the Subject of Nativeness': Marsden Hartley and New England Regionalism." Winterthur Portfolio 29 (Winter 1994), p. 233, fig. 2, dates it 1938–39.
Lisa Mintz Messinger. "American Art: The Edith and Milton Lowenthal Collection." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 54 (Summer 1996), pp. 7, 10, 28, 46, ill. pp. 6 (installation photo, Exh. New York 1952), 10 (color), 46.
Philippe de Montebello. "Director's Note." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 54 (Summer 1996), p. 3.
Holland Cotter. "Collectors Both Daring and Lucky." New York Times (December 20, 1996), p. C27.
Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser inMarsden Hartley. Ed. Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser. Exh. cat., Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford. New Haven, 2002, p. 16.
Amy Ellis inMarsden Hartley. Ed. Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser. Exh. cat., Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford. New Haven, 2002, pp. 314–15, no. 71, ill. p. 220 (color).
Bruce Robertson inMarsden Hartley. Ed. Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser. Exh. cat., Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford. New Haven, 2002, pp. 153–54.
Stephen May. "Marsden Hartley, Four Decades as a Painter." Antiques and the Arts Weekly (February 21, 2003), p. 41.
Karen Wilkin. "View/The Gallery: Art Fierce and Gritty." Wall Street Journal (February 21, 2003), p. W14.
Stephen Goode. "Hartley's Talent." Insight on the News (Washington, D.C.) 19 (July 22–August 4, 2003), p. 39.
Donna M. Cassidy. Marsden Hartley: Race, Region, and Nation. Hanover, N.H., 2005, pp. 56, 328 n. 120, fig. 1.24.
Elizabeth Finch inMarsden Hartley's Maine. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2017, pp. 74, 168, 173 n. 68, fig. 50 (color).
Donna M. Cassidy inMarsden Hartley's Maine. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2017, pp. 101–2.
Holland Cotter. "A Muse Beckoning Until the End." New York Times (March 17, 2017), p. C15.
Allison Rudnick. Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2023, pp. 24, 196, colorpl. 55.
Karen Wilkin. "Yesterday's Tomorrow." New Criterion 42 (December 2023), p. 32.
How did a decade of unprecedented financial strife, radical social upheaval, and technological innovation shape art and cultural identity in the United States?
Marsden Hartley (American, Lewiston, Maine 1877–1943 Ellsworth, Maine)
ca. 1940
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