MARSDEN HARTLEY Alfred Stieglitz charcoal, chalk, ink wash on cardstock 18" x 24" Signed bottom right Alfred Stieglitz understood Hartley's immense talent and became an early and influential backer of the New England modernist, often displaying his paintings in his Manhattan gallery, and hosting the first of many solo shows of Hartley's work in 1909. Through Stieglitz, Hartley met a number of artists in New York, including John Marin and Edward Steichen, and became an important contributor to avant-garde American School painting in the first decades of the 20th Century. Stieglitz and Hartley became fast friends, and a lengthy correspondence of letters between the two men exists today. Alfred Stieglitz' portrait photograph of Hartley, in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art collection, transmits the warm feelings Stieglitz had for his subject. Hartley returned the favor in this superb sketch of the celebrated photographer, evoking the atmosphere of the room, and Stieglitz' pensive mood with consummate skill. On the back of the sheet of card stock is an unfinished preparation sketch that Hartley created to help him devise the pictorial solutions required for the finished portrait. This is the only portrait of Stieglitz from Hartley's hand known to exist. It is a visual record of the friendship between two giants of American Modernism that would have a profound effect on the development of 20th Century art. check out piece at Rubber Diamond Gallery www.rubberdiamond.com #rubberdiamond, #buyart #artforsale
