The Cloisters

Marsden Hartley

ca. 1940 · Crayon on paper · Modern and Contemporary Art

The deliberate crudeness and iconic appearance of Hartley’s late figure paintings derive in part from his appreciation of medieval art. This drawing commemorates a trip to The Cloisters, the branch of The Met in northern Manhattan’s Fort Tryon Park devoted to art of the Middle Ages. The picture likely dates to a 1940 visit with Isabel Lachaise, widow of American sculptor Gaston Lachaise. In a letter he wrote (but never sent) to her, Hartley recollected their admiring together a large Spanish Crucifixion. The painter described it as "that amazing twelfth century one which is like no other in my reminiscence since it gives the air of a thinking person assailed."

Artist

Marsden Hartley

Date

ca. 1940

Medium

Crayon on paper

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Purchase, Malcolm Hewitt Wiener Foundation Gift, 1988