In anticipation of the upcoming Marsden Hartley’s Maine exhibition, which opened in summer 2017, a senior-geared program provided an overwhelming opportunity. Bayley Ray-Smith ’19 developed the foundations of the program and, in early summer, Jake Abbe-Schneider ’19, Linde Family Foundation Summer Education Intern, worked under the supervision of Margaret Aiken and Jordia Benjamin, Mirken Coordinator of Academic and Public Programs, to bring Bayley’s plans to fruition.
The Painter from Maine
Marsden Hartley in Literary and Artistic Context
Special Collections houses Colby’s rare books and manuscript collections as well as the college archives. Drawing on these rich collections, the exhibit highlights Hartley’s own literary work as a lesser-known aspect of his creative career, as well as letters, manuscripts, and published works by some of the Maine writers Hartley knew and read.
Marsden Hartley’s Glass Paintings
Hartley’s first glass paintings from 1917 are primitive compared to his canvas paintings from prior years. A complicated procedure, reverse painting on glass requires that details and highlights be painted first, then the foreground carefully laid on top.
A Map of Hartley’s Maine
A map of the places where Marsden Hartley lived and worked in the Pine Tree State.
Discovering Marsden Hartley in Stoneham, Maine
An Interview with Dan Barker
Houses like the ones he painted can still be seen in this area. He liked to walk and spent a lot of time on the road. He collected thoughts and memories and then used them later on somewhere else. The waterfall Hartley painted is on Great Brook and today you can’t see it because it’s all grown back up with forest growth.
All About the Details
Examining Hartley's Techniques and Materials with the Met Conservators
A special collaboration between the Colby College Museum of Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Marsden Hartley’s Maine enabled an in-depth study of works by the