Marsden Hartley Possibly 1916 - 1932

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph of Marsden Hartley. It's a touching portrait between artists. I can almost feel the energy between them, the shared language of art, and the silent understanding of what it means to dedicate yourself to a life of making. Hartley, with his hat and fur-collared coat, looks like he’s about to embark on a journey, maybe into the depths of his own creative mind. Stieglitz captures him with a directness that feels intimate, like we're catching Hartley in a moment of contemplation just before he unleashes his artistic vision. The gray scale seems like a way of stripping away the surface to reveal something essential about Hartley’s character and the stark beauty of his commitment to art. It’s like the photograph knows it's capturing a kindred spirit, another artist in the trenches, wrestling with form, color, and the ineffable quest to make something new.