New Mexico Hills 1877 - 1943

Curator: Ah, here we have Marsden Hartley's "New Mexico Hills," dating roughly between 1877 and 1943. It looks like a landscape done primarily with pastel, perhaps with some oil painting techniques layered in. Editor: Wow, the light! It’s dusty, sun-baked, almost palpable. Those soft, rolling hills feel monumental, and the way he's rendered the sky--just a suggestion of blue. I immediately think about quiet resilience. Curator: Yes, Hartley had a complex relationship with place, especially later in life. After his European travels and his time embracing modernist styles, he became quite invested in American folk art, which ties directly into works such as these, showing a focus on regional subject matter and simplified forms, wouldn’t you agree? Editor: Absolutely. You see that grounding in the simple structures dotting the landscape, they have a charming naive quality about them; I wouldn't call this piece naive, but it carries a raw intimacy—the muted tones evoke a deep reverence for this place. Were the materials locally sourced? I always wonder about how access, affordability, and availability shapes creativity in different locations. Curator: A great question. Certainly, Hartley’s palette here would’ve likely responded to his immediate environment in New Mexico, both in terms of availability and cost, but perhaps, more significantly, influenced by a wish to connect with a simpler aesthetic more traditionally reflective of this locale. Editor: There is this intentional simplicity of folk-art aesthetic and maybe the desire to return to one’s roots and simpler living, but also I can not stop but question--whose story, who does that simplicity really benefit? Curator: Interesting angle to view that specific piece through your prism. The pastel medium, with its immediacy and relative affordability compared to oils, certainly aligns with that folk art interest, both practically and aesthetically in relationship with Marsden's artistic growth and material production through art. Editor: Perhaps what I respond to most here is the intimacy, the handmade, that tactile relationship. Curator: The blending of landscape and the almost meditative quality of those gentle mountains against the sparse setting is captivating. Thank you for helping us connect with that intimacy.