Carrie Cushman joined the college as director of the 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art in August. She came to 乐播传媒 from the University of Hartford, where she had been the Edith Dale Monson Gallery director and curator at the university鈥檚 Hartford Art School. Cushman has built a career centered on curatorial innovation, scholarly research, and museum leadership. Her appointment represents the first leadership change at the museum since 2010, and as we learned in this conversation with her, Cushman has both big ambitions and a deep belief in the power and significance of a college museum.

You came to 乐播传媒 from the University of Hartford, and before that, you were the Linda Wyatt Gruber 鈥�66 Curatorial Fellow in Photography at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College. Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you came to work in museums?

I fell in love with art history as an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University. It was in Nashville that I also had my first experiences working hands-on with artwork and historical material, first as a curatorial intern at the Frist Art Museum and then as a student worker in Special Collections and University Archives at Vanderbilt. I pursued graduate work in art history with the intention of becoming a curator, but I was lucky enough to be able to teach along the way. Being in the classroom fed my soul, and it was here that I learned that engaging with students is what would give me the energy to sustain a career in the arts. Upon finishing my PhD, I narrowed my job search to academic museums and galleries where we have the best of both worlds 鈥� educating through curating. 

Can you share your broader thoughts about museums associated with institutions of higher education?  What do you think the museum鈥檚 role is on a college campus? 

Museums have so much to offer college campuses, from curricular support in the form of customized tours and class visits to immersive opportunities like internships. Academic museums are often smaller in scale and regionally focused, making us nimble and responsive to the concerns of our local communities. This also means we can be experimental and take risks that might be difficult at a larger, civic museum.

I also like to think of academic museums and galleries as an accessible gateway to the world of art, which can too often feel intimidating and unwelcoming. By contrast, college and university museums are typically free, offering an open gathering place for the community. Whether you are seeking a rigorous deep-dive into a niche art historical topic or looking for a low-stakes, first-time encounter with contemporary art, we are here to support you. 

When and how did you develop your interest in photography?

I came to the history of photography in a roundabout way. In my graduate work, I specialized in East Asian art, particularly modern and contemporary art from Japan. My research interests sat at the intersection of architecture, urban issues, and design, and yet, I kept finding myself writing about representations of architecture and the Japanese cityscape. This eventually led me to focus on the histories of architectural and street photography, as a way to tell the story of the ever-changing landscape of modern Japan. As a photography curator, my purview necessarily had to expand beyond Japan, leading me to projects focused on a range of topics, from 19th-century portrait photography to Cold War-era documentary photography in the U.S. 

As you settle in, what do you see as the museum鈥檚 biggest strength?

Its people! By this I mean the dedicated and hardworking museum staff, but also the students, faculty, and staff that make up our immediate community. I have spent the past month meeting with people across the campus, and I can sense a deep commitment to the arts here at 乐播传媒. It is clear to me that folks want to partner with the museum to grow the presence of art across the campus. I鈥檓 thrilled to have this strong foundation of community support and collaboration from which to begin my work here.

You just got here in August, with a major exhibition 鈥� Ralph Steadman: And Another Thing, which is up until Oct. 11 鈥� already in full swing, but have you started percolating ideas for future museum exhibitions or projects? Anything you want to share? 

With support from the museum staff, we are undertaking a dramatic rethinking of our exhibitions program with the goal of activating our permanent collection holdings. Beginning next academic year, the lower level of the museum will be devoted to rotating annual installations of the permanent collection, highlighting its many strengths, such as the .

The timing of this will coincide with the launch of the Marsden Hartley Legacy Project, a digital resource that brings together the complete collection of paintings and works on paper by Hartley, along with scholarly essays, a timeline, and more. I鈥檓 excited to work with our staff to envision what an installation of the permanent collection will look like, and to further engage with faculty on opportunities for teaching with our rich holdings.

Admissions at museums, not just ours, have been down since the pandemic. We can鈥檛 blame it on prices, since the 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art is always free. Do you have any thoughts on ways we reach out to both the campus community and beyond to draw audiences in?

This is a common issue. At my previous institution, I was able to increase visitors numbers annually by an average of 70% through a balance of strategically placed advertising, more interdisciplinary programming, and hands-on outreach with our local constituents. It will take time to figure out what a plan for increasing engagement looks like for 乐播传媒. I am consulting with our peer institutions in Maine to find out what is working for them, while also meeting with 乐播传媒 faculty and staff to learn about their visions for the museum. 

I鈥檓 hopeful that we鈥檒l be able to broaden our reach, because it鈥檚 my belief that the world needs museums now more than ever. We provide opportunities to process complex issues, model civic engagement, and practice belonging 鈥� all through encounters with art. And, as you say, it鈥檚 free! 

Maine has such a thriving arts community. What are you most excited to experience as a new resident? 

I鈥檓 particularly excited to engage with the many thriving arts residency programs in Maine. I was lucky enough to be a resident at Surf Point back in 2019, which is when I really fell in love with Maine. Now as a curator and museum director, residencies provide the opportunity to do studio visits with artists who travel here from all over the world. Given time and space to focus on their work, I find that artists are often at their happiest and most inspired when creating in these contexts. It also helps that they鈥檙e often in stunning locations! I鈥檓 so heartened by the warm welcome I鈥檝e received from the arts community here in Maine, and I look forward to making new connections each and every day.

Lewiston-born artist Marsden Hartley never owned a home and had few material goods. But when he died 79 years ago, he left the world a wealth of canvases and works on paper. In part because he was so prolific and not yet a highly coveted name within the art world at the time of his death, there are still some tantalizing mysteries about the locations and ownership of some of his art. 

For years, Gail R. Scott, an independent art historian and preeminent authority on Hartley, has been working with the 乐播传媒 Museum of Art on various Marsden Hartley鈥搑elated projects. The Marsden Hartley Legacy Project: The Complete Paintings and Works on Paper was launched in 2019 as a collaborative project seeking to solve those mysteries and build a definitive online catalog of Hartley鈥檚 works.

The enormous task of locating and documenting more than 1,600 works by Hartley is well underway but it has just won the generous support of a family foundation with a rich history of collecting works by Hartley.聽

The New York鈥揵ased , which partnered with the 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art for the extraordinary 2021 exhibition Marsden Hartley: Adventurer in the Arts, has announced a  $100,000 gift to support the ongoing Marsden Hartley Legacy project.

鈥淲e are thrilled to continue our partnership with the 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art,鈥� says Rick Kinsel, president of the Vilcek Foundation. 鈥淭his digital publication of his complete body of work will revolutionize Hartley scholarship by providing the public with access to Gail Scott’s incredible research.鈥� 

The 乐播传媒 Museum of Art houses many of Hartley鈥檚 personal possessions, including paintings, letters, photographs, and treasured mementos from his extensive travels, gifted to the college by his heirs beginning in 1951. His niece Norma Berger was his closest relative and in 1955 she made an additional gift to the college that included several early oil sketches and 99 drawings. The drawings represent the largest group of Hartley鈥檚 work in this medium and includes studies for some of the artist鈥檚 well-known paintings.

Hartley always considered himself a Maine artist, and in his lifetime, he expressed a wish that a memorial collection be established in his hometown, 鈥渇or the boys and girls of Maine.鈥� Berger thought it fitting that a Maine college house these collections.

鈥淭he 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art is an amazing resource for Hartley scholarship due to the extensive breadth of the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection,鈥� says Emily Schuchardt Navratil, curator at the Vilcek Foundation. (Navratil鈥檚 lecture at the museum, 鈥淎dventure in the Archives,鈥� was recorded and is available on the museum鈥檚 website.) 

鈥淚t鈥檚 just a huge boost,鈥� says Scott of the Vilcek grant. As rewarding as the work is, documenting the hundreds of Hartley works in the database is laborious, including finding 鈥渁ll the minute details of ownership, gathering images, and documenting the history of each painting, the exhibitions it was in, and the articles and books that have been written about each work.鈥�

With the Vilcek Foundation鈥檚 financial support, Scott will be able to hire another researcher and work with a social media manager to start sharing some of the considerable work the project has already accomplished and raise awareness of its intent. 

Tracking down all the Hartleys takes detective work. Consider the case of the works entitled Trees. There are 25 Hartley works on paper and canvas with that title. Any mention of a Trees in records of exhibitions or media clippings that doesn鈥檛 include an image or specific dating just adds to the confusion. 鈥淵ou have to figure out which one it is,鈥� Scott says.

Hartley鈥檚 papers are in the Archives of American Art (within the Smithsonian) and have now been digitized, which makes some of Scott鈥檚 detective and cataloging work easier. And the work of a midcentury researcher, Elizabeth McCausland, has proven to be invaluable, Scott says. McCausland corresponded with Hartley before his death and started a catalogue raisonne of his work. In 1952, McCausland published a book, Marsden Hartley. She died in 1965, the work unfinished. 鈥淚鈥檓 standing on her shoulders,鈥� Scott says.

鈥淭he trouble is, now I can鈥檛 find the current owner.鈥�

鈥淭he most important part of this research,鈥� Scott says, is the provenance, the tracing of ownership from the current owner back to the artist. It鈥檚 challenging work. A case in point unfolded last summer when Scott visited with family members in the coastal Maine town of Corea, where Hartley lived and worked in a modest studio during his last years.

The family had received a painting of his called Beaver Lake. It depicted a landscape in New Hampshire. When Scott got in touch with their granddaughter, she recalled that the family was grateful for the gift, but, she told Scott, 鈥渋t didn鈥檛 exactly have a place of honor in their house because Hartley鈥檚 reputation was not fully understood.鈥� It ended up in a closet. The family eventually decided to sell the painting and brought it to a gallery, where it was sold. Scott had an image of a painting that fit the description and showed it to the granddaughter. 鈥淪he said, 鈥極h yes, that is it,鈥欌�� Scott says. 鈥淭he trouble is, now I can鈥檛 find the current owner.鈥�

There are a number of Hartleys like this, known to exist 鈥� through photographs or other documentation 鈥� but unseen for years. 鈥淭here are a lot of what I call 鈥榳hereabouts unknown鈥� pieces,鈥� Scott says. 

Scott and her colleagues invite people who believe they own a Hartley to submit information to the legacy project, “to pull out some folks who do have genuine Hartleys,鈥� Scott says. 鈥淪ome have appeared.鈥�

One of the few that have been identified as real is a 1936 painting called Friend Against the Wind that was recently located in a bank vault in Portland, where its owner had placed it many years ago. The last time it was seen publicly was in 1980, when it was shown at Portland鈥檚 Barridoff Galleries, but Scott knew of its existence from a description and an image in a catalog from a 1987 exhibition in Nova Scotia that mentioned it. After the Portland Press Herald reported the painting’s rediscovery in early January, media outlets around the country picked up the story, with coverage appearing in Newsweek,  ABC News, the San Diego Tribune, and Art News, among other publications. 

The interest generated by that single discovery is a demonstration of the need for the legacy project, says Dan Mills, director of the 乐播传媒 Museum of Art. 鈥淭his initiative is timely, and there is urgency in its completion. Of the American artists of his stature and generation, Hartley is one of the very few without a publication of his complete body of work.鈥� 

鈥淲e鈥檙e grateful to the Vilcek Foundation for its recognition of the importance of our work,鈥� Mills says.

Scott leads a group that includes research assistants, digital cultural content specialists, and staff from 乐播传媒 Information and Library Services and 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art. In the past, Hartley scholarship, including the legacy project, has been supported by funding from a number of foundations, including the National Endowment for the Humanities (2010), the Henry R. Luce Foundation (2016), the Coby Foundation (2017), and The Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts (2018, 2019).

鈥淗e had even less money than usual,鈥� Scott says. So, 鈥渉e burned about 100 works. Destroyed them.鈥�

The museum and Scott share the goal to find every existing Hartley work if possible. He was prolific. At the time of Hartley鈥檚 death at 66, he had many works stashed in a warehouse in New York. Scott says he鈥檇 accumulated a great deal of his own work over the course of his career for a simple reason: 鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 sell. Ever since the very start of his career, when he was with Alfred Steiglitz [representing and showing his work], maybe one or two of the 15 paintings and drawings he was showing would sell. The rest the gallery had to store.鈥� 

Around 1935, Hartley was told he had to pay something toward the storage bill. 鈥淗e had even less money than usual,鈥� Scott says. So, 鈥渉e burned about 100 works. Destroyed them.鈥�

It鈥檚 a painful thought. 鈥淟ord knows what they were,鈥� she adds. 鈥淗opefully his eye culled what was less important, but it is not known.鈥� 

Hartley died without a will and it took more than two decades after his death for the paintings to be sold off and the estate to be settled. 

Collectors Jan and Marica Vilcek began acquiring Hartley works early in their collecting days and now own 22 of them, many of which were part of the Adventurer in the Arts exhibition, which closed at 乐播传媒 in November 2021 and will open in New York this September, with 乐播传媒 contributing artwork as well as a selection of his personal effects. 

Marsden Hartley, the famed modernist artist who was born in Lewiston in 1877, was a lifelong traveler and wanderer who collected mementos everywhere he went 鈥� from seashells to bracelets and rings.

Those souvenirs influenced his art, and vice versa, a dynamic that gives nuanced meaning to the exhibition Marsden Hartley: Adventurer in the Arts now at the 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art.

At its center, of course, is Hartley’s artwork, more than 35 paintings and drawings, including all 22 Hartley works in the , which are presented alongside personal objects and keepsakes from the artist鈥檚 life of adventure and travel.

Rick Kinsel, president of the Vilcek Foundation, where the exhibit will travel next, calls Hartley 鈥渁 trailblazing American multiculturalist.鈥� The exhibition demonstrates that and more, while acknowledging Hartley鈥檚 love of his home state, and the influence his hometown had throughout his life.

And some of it might surprise you. Because distance and the pandemic might prevent you from visiting the museum in person, we like to share these 13 nuggets from a gem of an exhibition 鈥� so you can experience a bit of Marsden Hartley, wherever you are.

His niece planted the seed for this exhibition 70 years ago

In 1951, four years before 乐播传媒 dedicated its first art exhibition space, Treat Gallery in Pettigrew Hall, the family of artist Marsden Hartley designated 乐播传媒 as the recipient of his possessions from his last days as an artist.

The possessions included everything that had been in his studio in the Down East fishing village of Corea, where he lived and worked until his death in Ellsworth in 1943.

It was a gift with a mission; his niece, Norma Berger, the closest relative the Lewiston native had, and who had herself been the regular recipient of souvenirs from her uncle鈥檚 extensive travels, told 乐播传媒 that Hartley had wanted to leave a collection for 鈥渢he boys and girls of Maine.鈥�

Berger said that Hartley told her how 鈥渂arren鈥� his childhood and young adult life had been of 鈥渁nything that he might have studied along that line.鈥� Hartley, she continued, 鈥渃herished the hope that he could provide some such collections which would be helpful to the children of his native state.鈥�

Four years later, Berger added to the gift, with a collection of her uncle鈥檚 work, including 99 drawings, some early oil sketches and some poems. There were also antiquities, textiles, and memorabilia in the collection. 

At the time of Berger鈥檚 gift, Hartley was all but forgotten in Maine

But during his lifetime, he had deeply wanted to be known as a Maine artist. He referred to Maine as 鈥渉is continent鈥� and to himself as 鈥�the painter from Maine.鈥� He hoped to live on in history as one, connected to Lewiston. At the time of his death, his ashes, by his wishes, were scattered on the Androscoggin River.

In making this gift, rich not in canvases but in its markers of Hartley鈥檚 passions, Norma Berger thought ahead, writing to 乐播传媒: 鈥淭he collection was of no great intrinsic value and could hardly have meant much to any institution as such, but the time will come when a memorial collection will have its significance.鈥�

He learned to love the circus in Lewiston and remained artistically obsessed with it

Born in 1877, in Lewiston, Hartley had an impoverished childhood and lost his mother when he was only 8. The nature surrounding his native city captivated him while 鈥渢he harsh grinding of the mills rang in my ears for years.鈥� 

But so did the warm memories of the circus coming to Lewiston 鈥� and the annual Maine State Fair at the Lewiston fairgrounds. Hartley鈥檚 cousin owned and operated a theater in Lewiston, which furthered his connection to performance.

At 16, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, to be with his father and his father鈥檚 new wife. Later, as a young man, Hartley moved to New York and attended the circus in Madison Square Garden. On a trip to Paris, he saw the circus at the Cirque d鈥橦iver. His love of the circus even landed him a byline in Vanity Fair (in 1924, for a poem about the circus). He was particularly fascinated by acrobats, who he wrote knew how to 鈥渄ecorate the space on which he operates.鈥�

One of the big canvases lent to the 乐播传媒 museum by the Vilceks is The Strong Man, a direct reference to the circus, painted in Berlin, likely in 1923. A drawing of an elephant in the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection at 乐播传媒 was likely made during multiple attempts Hartley made to design a cover for a planned but unfinished book called Elephants and Rhinestones: A Book of Circus Values. 

Hartley hoped that if there was an afterlife, a heaven, that in it, he could join 鈥渢he splendid horde鈥� of circus performers, on 鈥渨hat will no longer be 鈥楾he Greatest Show on Earth.鈥欌�� 

Hartley was broke, just about all the time 

The famed photographer Alfred Stieglitz helped fund Hartley鈥檚 first trip to Europe in 1912. Hartley had been longing to go. 鈥淥ne day it all came like magic and I knew I could go, and there was my first voyage into the world of dreams and legend,鈥� he wrote in his memoirs. 

In the next decades, he would regularly travel, staying in the homes of friends or finding cheap places to rent, until the money ran out. He visited, among other locales, Germany, Austria, Italy, Bermuda, Mexico, and Canada. 

But he was at peace with his lack of money

Anyone with money problems knows how hard it is not to focus on them. But Hartley was at peace with it, near the end of his life writing to Berger: 鈥淲hen I am no longer here my name will register forever in the history of American art鈥�.O the difficulties 鈥� all monetary of course because the rest is pure satisfaction 鈥� joy 鈥� and a feeling of having gone where one was headed for.鈥� 

Hartley was enterprising

He once wrote that he didn鈥檛 even need a real studio, just a room 鈥渁ny kind of room鈥� and two chairs, one of which he鈥檇 sit on and the other, he鈥檇 use as an easel.

When it came to materials, he made do. In 1933, he traveled to the Alps and spent seven intense weeks walking to make sketches for paintings. He wrote to Berger that he鈥檇 nearly finished 15 paintings in seven weeks, but had switched to painting on cardboard 鈥渂ecause I can鈥檛 afford canvas but I like cardboard so no call for pity then.鈥� 

He was a souvenir hunter

He collected inexpensive mementos that he treasured, picking up objects and artifacts everywhere he went. 

He loved seashells (there are paintings of a few in the exhibition). He sought out jewelry, including bracelets with his initials and rings. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 really put our initials on things as much anymore,鈥� says museum registrar Corie Audette, pointing out some German cufflinks and a cigarette case, emblazoned with the 鈥淢H.鈥�

In Hartley鈥檚 memoirs he called his collecting an alternative to 鈥渃oncrete escapades鈥� 鈥� a reference to his life as a sexually repressed gay man鈥攁nd his own preference for abstract escapades (鈥渢he collecting of objections which is a sex expression too the upper hand,鈥� he wrote.)

He never owned a home of his own

While he was happy being a nomad, late in life he did have thoughts of building a home in Corea, where his art could be shown next to his beloved treasures. He gave the place a name, High Spot, and drew up plans for it. He gave up the idea, but those plans are in the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection at 乐播传媒.

His souvenirs influenced his paintings, and vice versa, regularly 

The red and black blanket, probably Mexican, that is part of the exhibit, seems echoed in the motifs and palettes of paintings like Christ (1942), one of many religious images he finished in his last years.

Intellectual Niece, owned by 乐播传媒, was painted either in West Brooksville, Maine, while Hartley was visiting friends, or shortly after that visit. It features the Bagaduce River in the background, with sailboats coming in and out of the frame, and a man looming in the middle, two women seated on either side of him. 

But the composition seems very reminiscent of an Egyptian textile fragment (likely from a garment) Hartley purchased in his travels. 乐播传媒 museum curator William Low has placed them together in the show. 鈥淪ome scholars really think that these images influenced his painting,鈥� Low says. 鈥淎nd so the reason I have this here is because this is a late figure work that he did, and I see a clear connection between the things that he was looking at and his work鈥�.

One of these paintings has never been exhibited in the U.S. before 

Schiff (ship or boat), a large painting with a frame that Hartley decorated as well, extending the work off the canvas, was painted in Berlin in 1915. But before the 乐播传媒 show opened this week, it had not yet been shown publicly in the U.S.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a big deal,鈥� says Low. The painting鈥檚 central image looks more like a Native American canoe 鈥� with a bit of a circus vibe 鈥�  than a ship. But , Rick Kinsel, the president of the Vilcek Foundation, suggests that Hartley may have been thinking of the solar ship of the sun god Ra in ancient Egyptian mythology. (Look closely at the bottom right part of the frame and you鈥檒l see a horizontal red zigzag, the Egyptian hieroglyph for water.)

The painting was directly inspired by Hartley鈥檚 early travels. After Paris in 1912, he went to Germany in January 1913, with a German sculptor friend named Arnold Ronnebeck. He fell in love with Ronnebeck鈥檚 young cousin, an officer in the German military, and was captivated by the Kaiser鈥檚 many military parades, which featured men in white leather breeches on white horses, and held an erotic charge for him. 

In his memoirs he wrote of the allure of the parades, 鈥渟ix foot of youth under all this garniture,鈥� and how they brought the attraction back to childhood memories of circus parades in Lewiston.

Experts marvel at the varied styles of Hartley鈥檚 work

Jan and Marica Vilcek can鈥檛 quite believe how much his work varies in style. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to fathom that works as diverse as Mont Sainte-Victoire and Schiff were painted by the hand of the same artist,鈥� the couple says in the preface to the exhibition catalogue. 

鈥淎mong all the American modernists we have collected, Hartley stands out not only for the diversity, beauty, spirituality, and mystery of his work, but also for his openness to other cultures and ways of life.鈥� 

The adventurer left Maine a lot, but he always came back

The first recognition Marsden Hartley got for his work were for paintings he made in North Lovell, near the shores of Kezar Lake, in 1908. While he traveled extensively, particularly in Europe, and made famous friends (like Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, and the photographer Man Ray, who made his portrait, also in the exhibit) he always came home to Maine, the place he told Stieglitz was 鈥渢he country that taught me how to endure pain.鈥� 

He鈥檚 also famous for his landscapes of Katahdin 

He took his first trip to Baxter State Park in October 1939. The park, founded in 1931, was still very new. 

Hartley got a ride to 鈥渢he foot of the mountain鈥� and in a letter to his niece, described his walk to his camp: 鈥渇our miles to walk 鈥� in the dark through the rain 鈥� pitch black and the worst road I ever encountered in my life.鈥�

Eight days in Baxter cost Hartley $40. He came out with four paintings and a wish fulfilled. 鈥淚 got my sacred mountain in the end….鈥� He also got his wish, that his name would be forever associated with Maine and the mountain.

Thanks to a major grant to 乐播传媒 College from a foundation dedicated to the arts, creation has begun of the first-ever comprehensive, publicly accessible guide to all known artworks by Marsden Hartley, a pioneer of American Modernism.

The New York City-based Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts recently conveyed to the 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art the first installment of a $192,000 grant for the creation of the 鈥淢arsden Hartley Legacy Project: The Complete Paintings and Works on Paper.鈥�

Marsden Hartley created this study for the oil painting 鈥淭he Lost Felice鈥� in black and brown ink with graphite on paper ca. 1938. (Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection, 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art. Gift of Norma Berger)

One of the biggest foundation gifts ever received by the museum, this year鈥檚 grant is the 乐播传媒 museum鈥檚 second from the Horowitz foundation.

The first grant supported work on the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection, which comprises art by Hartley and others and a treasure trove of personal possessions.

Hartley was born in Lewiston, Maine, in 1877, and died in the Down East city of Ellsworth in 1943. One of the celebrated circle of artists affiliated with New York photographer-art dealer Alfred Stieglitz, along with Georgia O鈥橩eeffe and John Marin, Hartley today is celebrated as one of the most distinctive American Modernists 鈥� and one who defies easy analysis or characterization.

Gail R. Scott of Portland, Maine, an independent art historian and curator and an authority on Hartley, is partnering with 乐播传媒 and will direct the project.

The 乐播传媒 museum is widely recognized as an important Hartley resource thanks to the Hartley Memorial Collection, established at the college in the 1950s by a bequest from Hartley鈥檚 estate.

鈥淎s the home to the Hartley Memorial Collection and the museum in Hartley鈥檚 hometown, 乐播传媒 thought it was important to be the institution to initiate this project and establish it here,鈥� says Dan Mills, director of the 乐播传媒 museum.

鈥淚n recent years, the museum has focused on stewardship, cataloguing, researching and making available information about this important collection. The museum and the Memorial Collection have increasingly been a research destination for scholars from around the world.鈥�

Marsden Hartley depicted in a gelatin silver print made around 1940 by Alfredo Valente, a photographer best-known for his images of Broadway actors and actresses. (Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection, 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art. Gift of Norma Berger)

乐播传媒 museum curator William Low says that Scott 鈥渉as almost unparalleled knowledge of Hartley鈥檚 artwork and writing.鈥�

鈥淪he has been a friend and consultant to the museum for many years,鈥� Low adds. Scott served as guest curator and essayist for the museum鈥檚 2002 exhibition of works by Carl Sprinchorn, and has been closely involved with the museum鈥檚 effort, funded by the Horowitz Foundation and others, to update curatorial efforts around the Hartley Memorial Collection and improve online access to it.

Scott began her career as assistant curator of modern art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She has published extensively, including exhibition catalogs on modern and contemporary American artists such as Richard Diebenkorn, Chuck Close, Wallace Berman and E. Ambrose Webster. She has also published work on such Maine artists as Carl Sprinchorn, Marguerite and William Zorach, and Harold Garde, but she may be best-known for her longtime Hartley scholarship.

Scott鈥檚 work with 乐播传媒 on the Legacy Project will be based, in part, on Hartley research she has amassed over the decades. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very important for scholars, galleries and museums, and even collectors to have this accessible,鈥� she explains.

Scott discovered Hartley through researching the artist鈥檚 pre-World War I 鈥淕erman officer鈥� paintings for a project at the Los Angeles museum. Among other Hartley projects, she went on to write a definitive monograph on his art and to edit collections of his essays on art topics (On Art by Marsden Hartley, 1982) and his poetry (The Collected Poems of Marsden Hartley, 1987).

鈥淭he depth of his artistry as a painter 鈥� especially as a painter 鈥� and extending into his writings, and the depth of his intellectual and spiritual focuses over the course of his career, just kept me going,鈥� says Scott, 鈥渁nd continue to do so.鈥�

鈥淕armisch鈥� is a 1933 drawing in graphite on paper by Marsden Hartley. (Gift of Norma Berger)

She adds, 鈥淚 think one thing that has not been examined enough is the quality of his painting and the handling of paint. And also the extraordinary way that he charged a canvas with energy and depth of, sometimes, emotions, and sometimes mysterious or mystical of implications. He’s a painter’s painter.鈥�

With interest in Hartley gaining momentum in recent years, 乐播传媒 has lent artworks and other items from the Memorial Collection to important exhibitions. 鈥淪upporting these important projects is a critical responsibility for 乐播传媒 as the home of the Memorial Collection,鈥� Mills points out.

Such exhibitions include 2017鈥檚 Marsden Hartley鈥檚 Maine at New York鈥檚 Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Colby College Museum of Art; Marsden Hartley: The German Paintings, 1913鈥�1915 at museums in Berlin and Los Angeles; and a 2019 show at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, in Denmark, the first major Hartley retrospective in Europe since 1961.

乐播传媒 has more than 100 artworks by Hartley, including the 99 drawings that came with the Hartley bequest. Other institutions in Maine at which he is represented include Colby and Bowdoin colleges. Scott will visit institutions with major Hartley holdings in Minnesota, Nebraska, Arkansas and elsewhere to conduct additional research.

The Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection has also received generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Coby Foundation, and the Henry Luce Foundation.

Once the Legacy Project is online, the entry for each artwork will include basic facts about its creation; notes on its provenance, exhibition history, alternate titles, literary references, etc.; and scholarly commentary by Scott.

“He’s a painter’s painter.”

Many major artists have been the subject of comprehensive published catalogs of their oeuvres. Why has there been no such resource for Hartley?

It hasn鈥檛 been for lack of trying, says Scott. Two attempts at a Hartley catalogue raisonn茅 have been undertaken but not published, one fairly recent and another by Hartley scholar Elizabeth McCausland during the 1950s. McCausland鈥檚 research has recently been made available online at the Archives of American Art and has been an important source for Scott鈥檚 scholarship.

Scott herself has compiled a substantial database of Hartley鈥檚 paintings and drawings that will be converted to a web-based platform as the basis of the Hartley Legacy Project.

The 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art鈥檚 purchase of a painting by Marsden Hartley, a major figure in American Modernism, is one of the outcomes of a $100,000 grant to the museum from a foundation in New York City.

Half of the grant from the Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts has helped fund the purchase of 鈥淚ntellectual Niece,鈥� a late Hartley work depicting his niece Norma Berger.

Marsden Hartley depicted in a gelatin silver print made around 1940 by Alfredo Valente, a photographer best-known for his images of Broadway actors and actresses. (Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection, 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art)

The purchase dovetails nicely with the museum鈥檚 plan for the remainder of the grant, which was approved in February. The $50,000 will fund scholarly documentation of items in the museum’s Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection as part of the development of a fully accessible online catalog of the collection 鈥� a collection made possible by Berger鈥檚 generosity.

The museum’s Hartley collection comprises artwork by Lewiston native Hartley and other notable artists, his personal library, and a treasure trove of his personal effects.

鈥淭he Horowitz Foundation grant further strengthens a definitive Museum of Art resource,鈥� says museum Director Dan Mills. 鈥淭he Hartley Collection, which includes the largest collection of Hartley drawings anywhere, provides unique ways of understanding the life and creative work of an important American artist.

鈥淭he Horowitz grant, along with other recent grants, is enabling us to conserve, research, and document the collection, and to make it more accessible. And 鈥業ntellectual Niece鈥� is a significant painting that is important to and a great fit for the collection,鈥� Mills continues.

鈥淚t鈥檚 gratifying that a leading arts advocate like the Horowitz Foundation shares 乐播传媒鈥� commitment to growing and stewarding this nationally valuable collection.鈥�

鈥淚ntellectual Niece鈥� was acquired from Nova Scotia residents Chris Huntington and Charlotte McGill. Art collectors and longtime supporters of the museum, 鈥渢hey have donated significant drawings of Hartley鈥檚, as well as work by other Maine artists,鈥� says museum curator William Low, who works closely with the Hartley Collection.

(The day after Low spoke to us for this article, he headed to Patten, Maine, to meet the couple and pick up their latest gift, an important donation of more than 75 works by Maine painter and Hartley contemporary Carl Sprinchorn.)

鈥淏eing able to acquire 鈥業ntellectual Niece,鈥� is a huge step for the museum,鈥� says Low, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 also part of a long-term relationship.鈥�

“Intellectual Niece,” a 1939 oil painting by Marsden Hartley. (Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection, 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art)

鈥淚ntellectual Niece鈥� is the first significant Hartley painting, as opposed to works in other media, that 乐播传媒 has acquired. Norma Berger was Hartley鈥檚 鈥渕ost intimate relative later in life,鈥� Low says. 鈥淪he was his favorite correspondent, someone he was very close to.

鈥淗e frequently sent her gifts from his extensive travels, beginning when she was quite young. She was devoted to him, and the Hartley Collection is here at 乐播传媒 because of her efforts.鈥�

The collection grew from two gifts that followed Hartley’s death in 1943. His heirs gave 乐播传媒 the remaining effects from his home and studio in Corea, Maine, in 1951. In 1955, Berger made a gift of Hartley artwork including 99 drawings.

In the 1950s, says Low, 鈥淗artley was relatively unknown in his hometown. But he had expressed a hope that at some point he鈥檇 be recognized as a contributor to American art and his hometown. And 乐播传媒 was fortunate to receive those gifts.鈥�

The Berger portrait 鈥渂rings together some loose ends in the collection. It depicts the person who鈥檚 responsible for the collection coming here. It connects with other works in the collection in special ways. We鈥檙e really grateful to the Horowitz Foundation for recognizing the importance of those connections.鈥�

鈥淚ntellectual Niece鈥� represents a transitional time in Hartley鈥檚 art. 鈥淗e didn鈥檛 start painting figurative work until late in his career,鈥� says Low. 鈥淭his is a painting from a significant 1939 exhibition that was his first real exhibition devoted to figurative work.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檝e been hoping to acquire this painting for years 鈥� this has been my single most important wish-list item literally for 20 years.鈥�

Hartley’s influence remains potent. Just in the past couple of decades, his work has been the focus of high-profile exhibitions in Hartford, Fort Worth, Berlin, Los Angeles, and elsewhere, a string culminating last year with Marsden Hartley’s Maine, a landmark show organized and shown by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Colby College Museum of Art.

And continuing interest in Hartley means continuing interest in the Hartley Collection at 乐播传媒. Hartley scholars and aficionados visit campus increasingly often to avail themselves of the resource, says Low. The Hartley aura also attracts artists interested in the possibility of having their work included in the museum鈥檚 overall collection, whose roots in the Hartley holdings are evident in 乐播传媒鈥� collecting focus on drawings and works on paper.

Totaling more than 400 pieces, the collection includes art by Hartley in other media and work from his personal collection by friends and colleagues including Sprinchorn, Mark Tobey, and George Platt Lynes; Coptic, Mexican, and Asian textiles; pre-Columbian objects and Luristan bronzes; photographs; and the artist鈥檚 personal library.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been hoping to acquire this painting for years 鈥� this has been my single most important wish-list item literally for 20 years.鈥�

In sum, the collection affords unparalleled insights into Hartley鈥檚 work, his life, and his times. But fully realizing that value depends on work that will be supported by the Horowitz grant and by grants previously received by the museum from the Henry Luce Foundation and from the Coby Foundation.

The Horowitz grant focuses on updating scholarship for the various components of the collection, Low explains. The Luce Foundation grant is supporting more 鈥渕echanical鈥� aspects of managing and cataloging the collection, such as making digital images of collection items and creating the online database. The Coby grant is funding conservation of the fragile textiles in the collection.

鈥淭he ultimate goal is an American art resource that will provide easier and more thorough access to the collection online,鈥� Low says. But, he adds, 鈥渋t is also intended to serve as an means of collection preservation.鈥�

That is, as interest in Hartley grows, 鈥渢he scholarship and online resource will contribute to the long-term care and preservation of the collection by reducing physical handling of fragile artworks and objects.鈥�

Jenkins discusses the process of printmaking on May 4 and the current on May 11. Kim will talk about artist Marsden Hartley on May 18. All talks are open to the public and will be held in the upper level of the 乐播传媒 Museum of Art, Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St. For more information, please call 207-786-6158.

Jenkins’ first talk seeks to illuminate the often-mysterious mediums of silkscreen and lithography. Focusing on a small group of works from the collection and using a PowerPoint presentation, the talk will detail the processes of each medium step by step. The goal is to enable viewers to better to visualize the evolution of a work, and better appreciate the amount of work put into making prints.

Jenkins will next focus on a tour of the Senior Exhibition. The talk includes information on the yearlong thesis process required of art majors, an overview of the organization and installation of the show, and insights into Jenkins’ and her co-exhibitors’ art.

Finally, Kim will talk about artist Marsden Hartley, based on research she conducted during a museum internship. Born in Lewiston, Hartley is recognized as one of America鈥檚 greatest modernist painters. Kim will explore Hartley’s wanderings and his unique vision that emerged from his relationship with nature and human interactions.

The NEH Preservation Assistance Grant will enable the museum to obtain expert assessments of how best to preserve the collection, which came to the museum in the 1950s.

Hartley was born in Lewiston in 1877. About a century ago he joined a circle of artists, including Georgia O’Keeffe and John Marin, who were represented by the renowned photographer and art dealer Alfred Stieglitz. By bringing a distinctively American energy and outlook to cutting-edge European trends in art, they established an American modernist school that remains tremendously popular and influential.

At 乐播传媒, the Hartley materials compose one of the museum’s two founding collections, and they continue to inform its approach to acquiring and exhibiting artwork, and to educational programming. The grant, explains museum curator Bill Low, enables the museum to “get a simple, comprehensive assessment of the collection done. We can then use that as a springboard to other treatment grants and larger support.”

Representing a Lewiston native and artist of international renown, the Hartley collection is a valuable 乐播传媒 asset. “Like the other collections here, it’s an important teaching tool,” Low says. In addition, “it has really served as a foundation for the other collecting that we do.”

Though living elsewhere for most of his life, Hartley often visited Maine in the summer and settled in the Down East village of Corea a few years before he died, in 1943. Though he spent little time in Lewiston as an adult, he “wrote and spoke very nostalgically about his hometown,” says Low, “particularly later in his life when he really wanted to dedicate himself to becoming the painter of Maine.

“He wrote quite beautifully about his love for the Androscoggin River and the people here, and being a young man here.”

In his lifetime, the artist expressed a desire that there be a memorial collection of some sort in Lewiston after his death. In 1951, the heirs of the Hartley estate gave 乐播传媒 personal effects from Hartley’s home in Corea, including drawings by other artists in the Stieglitz circle. In 1955, his niece, Norma Berger, made an additional gift that included 99 Hartley drawings.

“The Hartley drawings cover a wide range of subjects and constitute the largest collection his work in this medium,” says Low. “They document his travels and some also serve as studies for some of his significant paintings.

“As a result this collection is frequently sought out by scholars as part of the research into Hartley’s practice. The collection has been included in important exhibitions over the years.”

Overall, Low explains, the collection is “quite broad.” It includes textiles that Hartley collected, correspondence, poems and essays, jewelry, and a camera, as well as Hartley’s personal library and a large holding of his writings, which reside in the at 乐播传媒.

The grant is part of a special NEH initiative, the “We the People” program. It is designed to encourage and strengthen the teaching, study and understanding of American history and culture. “It’s a valuable recognition of the significance of this project,” Low says.

Little, winner of the 2000 Acadia Arts Achievement Award, has authored several books on art, such as Edward Hopper鈥檚 New England (Pomegranate Communications, 1993) and The Watercolors of John Singer Sargent (University of California Press, 1999)

Little also writes for regional and national publications including Art New England and Art in America. He contributed an essay to the catalog for the exhibition Bernard Langlais: Independent Spirit at the Portland Museum of Art in 2002.

At 乐播传媒, Little will focus on Langlais’ current exhibition in the context of his greater oeuvre. The exhibition Medium and Abstraction, curated by Erin Gilligan ’09, focuses on a selection of Langlais sculptures from the 1950s and ’60s that show a particular influence of the New York avant-garde. The inclusion of wooden assemblages by Louise Nevelson and portraits of Langlais imply a larger context of influence for his work, which Little will discuss.

Langlais, born in Old Town, Maine, in 1921, embarked on an art career at a young age. His early work is predominantly paintings and collages. In 1956, Langlais and his wife bought a summer cottage in Cushing, Maine. While completing renovations, Langlais began experimenting with wood, and developed his self-proclaimed “painting in wood” technique. He is most famous for whimsical animal sculptures and tableaus created with a fusion of painting and wood carving.

Also featured in the museum are the exhibitions Landscape Drawings from the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection and Our Positive Bodies: Mapping Our Treatment, Sharing Our Choices. The Hartley exhibition showcases ink and graphite drawings by this famed artist born in Lewiston, Maine, who wished to have a memorial collection in his hometown.

Marsden is known as a pioneer of American modernist painting in the early 20th century. Our Positive Bodies originated in Nairobi, Kenya, and focuses on “body mapping,” a palliative process through which life-sized silhouette self-portraits of women affected by AIDS are used to divulge feelings and memories.

The Langlais and Hartley exhibitions close on Oct. 3, while Our Positive Bodies remains up until Dec. 11. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and closed on major holidays. Admission is free.

For more information, please call 207-786-6158 or visit the museum Web site at www.bates.edu/museum.xml.

Opening June 12 at the 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art are exhibitions of work by two prominent artists with Maine connections, and a third exhibition revealing a compelling response to HIV/AIDS.

The exhibition Medium and Abstraction explores influences at work in the wood reliefs of the late, beloved Maine artist Bernard Langlais. Rarely seen images by a pioneer in American modern art are displayed in Landscape Drawings from the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection.

Finally, a therapeutic approach to self-portraiture for women infected with the AIDS virus is the theme of the major summer exhibition Our Positive Bodies: Mapping Our Treatment, Sharing Our Choices.

The Langlais and Hartley exhibitions close on Oct. 3, and Our Positive Bodies remains up until Dec. 11. Open to the public at no cost, the museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. It is closed on major holidays. For more information, please call 207-786-6158 or visit the museum Web site. The museum is located at 75 Russell St.

Langlais is known for his vigorous explorations of the sculptural possibilities of wood, using found objects ranging from toothpicks to driftwood, and for the intimacy he established with the character of the medium, through both direct manipulation and an understanding of weathering and other random factors.

Born in Old Town in 1921, Langlais fused his Maine upbringing with ideas from the New York avant-garde to create bold abstract wood reliefs.

乐播传媒 senior Erin Gilligan ’09 curated Medium and Abstraction to focus on a select group of Langlais’ works from the 1950s and ’60s and to introduce a broader context of influences, through the inclusion of such items as wooden assemblages by Louise Nevelson and portraits of Langlais by Alex Katz.

The works come to the 乐播传媒 museum courtesy of Aucocisco Galleries of Portland.

The Hartley exhibition features ink and graphite drawings covering a wide range of subjects and a time span of several decades. Hartley was born in Lewiston, and during his lifetime expressed the hope that a memorial collection be established in his hometown.

In 1951, eight years after his death, the heirs of the Hartley estate left artworks and effects to 乐播传媒 College, and a subsequent gift of 99 drawings was made to the college by Hartley’s niece, Norma Berger, in 1955. It is the largest collection of the artist’s work in this medium.

The 2009 exhibit showcases selections from the latter group of works. It is the largest collection of the artist’s work in this medium. Many served as studies for some of the artist鈥檚 most important paintings.

Our Positive Bodies: Mapping Our Treatment, Sharing Our Choices originated in Nairobi, Kenya, in an effort to help HIV-positive women cope with the likelihood that they would die prematurely and leave their children behind. The exhibition focuses on “body mapping,” a process that uses the creation of life-sized, silhouette self-portraits to express the feelings, memories, treatment and identities of those likely to die of AIDS.

These celebratory portraits are designed to encourage women affected by the disease to explore their options for maximizing their well-being and to better understand how the attitudes and behavior of others affects their ability to stay healthy.

During four days in September, the 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art will host both the world premiere of a documentary about artist Marsden Hartley and a symposium about Maine folk art.

The museum and the Connecticut-based film production company 217 Films present the hourlong Visible Silence: Marsden Hartley, Painter and Poet in screenings at 7 and 9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, in the Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St.

As a gift to the citizens of Lewiston honoring one of their most famous sons, admission is free, but tickets are required. For reservations or more information call 207-786-6135 or olinarts@bates.edu.

Three days later, the museum hosts a daylong symposium on the history and techniques of Maine folk art, beginning at 9:15 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 28, in the Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St.

Produced by the Maine Folk Art Trail, “Traditional American Folk Art in Maine” will examine folk-art forms as diverse as hooked rugs, scrimshaw, quilts, paint-decorated furniture and schoolgirl needlework.聽 For more information visit the Web site or call 207-786-6400.

More about Visible Silence: Independent filmmakers Michael Maglaras and Terri Templeton of 217 Films produced the documentary about Hartley, a Lewiston native who went on to become one of America’s signature artists. Maglaras wrote, narrated and directed the film.

Lewiston Mayor Laurent Gilbert will introduce the 7 p.m. screening, and Maine Gov. John Baldacci has proclaimed Sept. 25 as “Marsden Hartley Day.”

Hartley has long been considered a father of American modernist art. In May, a Hartley painting sold for $6.31 million, setting an auction record at Christie’s in New York for an American modernist work and overtaking a record previously held by a work of Georgia O’Keeffe.

The 乐播传媒 museum is home to the world鈥檚 largest collection of Hartley artifacts, and features more than 45 of Hartley’s paintings and drawings — from his earliest work as a child to the last painting found on the easel in his studio in Corea, Maine, the day he died in 1943.

Hartley was deeply attached to his hometown, Lewiston, and to the Androscoggin River, and these locations play a key role in the film. Hartley traveled extensively, but always returned to Maine and, at the end of his life, considered himself “Maine鈥檚 painter.” He requested his ashes be strewn along the Androscoggin when he died; and this important and poignant moment is dramatized in Visible Silence.

Next stops in the national tour of Visible Silence include the University of Southern Maine in Portland; Boston; and New Britain, Conn.

The world premiere of first Maine-made movie, Cleophas and His Own, based on a story by Hartley, took place in Lewiston in 2005.

More about “Traditional American Folk Art in Maine”: Nine folk-art experts are scheduled to speak at the symposium, including authorities such as Leonard Brooks, the director of the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Museum, New Gloucester, and Maine state historian Earle Shettleworth Jr. The symposium will also exhibit Maine-specific folk-art works.

For centuries, Maine residents without formal training or art education made art. Objects such as quilts or hooked rugs often served functional as well as artistic purposes and over the years became integrated within families, communities and culture.

The symposium is held in conjunction with the current museum exhibition [intlink id=”11411″ type=”post”]Flourishing Folk: New England Decorated Works on Paper and Document Boxes from the Deborah N. Isaacson Trust[/intlink], which runs through Dec. 14. This exhibition represents 乐播传媒 in the Maine Folk Art Trail, a collaborative effort among 11 museums and historical societies statewide to guide visitors to the best of Maine folk art.

Thanks to the coordinated statewide exhibition, Mainers and visitors will be able to follow the from York to Lewiston to Searsport to see samplings from these diverse collections.