ABSTRACT
The career of Marsden Hartley is one of the most interesting in the history of modern painting in America, but the very reasons that make it interesting have also made it difficult at times to keep his accomplishments clearly in focus. In 1909, Hartley had his first exhibition at Alfred Stieglitz's Photo-Secession Gallery. Hartley had what might be called a "Northern" sensibility. Cezanne was indeed a turning point for Hartley. Without his immersion in the Cezannean aesthetic, Hartley would never have achieved the clarity and power of his late landscapes. In retracing the steps of Cezanne's return to home ground after his deep involvement with the art life of Paris, Hartley was preparing for his own homeward journey after the beguilements of the European capitals. There are several of the small early Maine landscapes of 1908–1910 which indicate the scope of Hartley's talent—a lyricism already abetted by a natural gift for pictorial form—even before his European adventures.
