Maine Woods 1908

Editor: This is Marsden Hartley’s “Maine Woods,” created around 1908 using oil paint. It’s a fascinating, almost dizzying portrayal of the forest. It feels dense, almost claustrophobic, but the vibrant colours are undeniably captivating. What catches your eye in this work? Curator: What I find compelling is how Hartley, in "Maine Woods," captures a very specific moment in the American art world – a moment where artists are wrestling with European modernism and trying to define an American identity. The gestural brushstrokes clearly draw on Fauvism and early Expressionism, movements embraced in Europe. But the subject – the Maine woods – stakes a claim to something distinctly American. How do you see this tension playing out in the painting? Editor: I guess I see it in the subject matter. The way he renders the forest is more like a feeling of it, an emotional reaction, than a photo-realistic image. So, it's a specifically American place filtered through a European lens? Curator: Precisely! And it raises questions about cultural dominance, doesn’t it? Is Hartley truly capturing the “Maine Woods” or is he filtering it through the lens of a European artistic sensibility that was being promoted by major art institutions and galleries at the time? Think about who was deciding what "good" art was back then and where were they based? Editor: So, it's almost like Hartley is speaking in an artistic language learned abroad to describe his native land. I never really thought about it in terms of that kind of cultural dialogue before. Curator: Exactly. Considering that context helps us move beyond merely admiring the vibrant brushstrokes to considering the public role of art and the politics embedded in even the simplest landscape. Editor: That’s a really interesting perspective. I’m definitely going to be thinking about that tension – the American subject viewed through an external lens – next time I look at this piece. Curator: And hopefully it encourages you to consider how museums and galleries, even today, shape our understanding of art and American identity.