Marsden Hartley (1877-1943)

Marsden Hartley first arrived in New Mexico in June of 1918. Although Taos and Santa Fe were meccas for avant-garde artists and writers, it was from the surrounding environs that he instantly drew inspiration. Hartley was captivated by the forms, colors and brilliant crystalline light, regarding the richly hued landscape as sacred. He expressed his awe with the place, writing that, "any one of these beautiful arroyos and canyons is a living example of the splendour of the ages...and I am bewitched with their magnificence and their austerity; as for the colour, it is of course the only place in America where true colour exists, excepting the short autumnal season in New England." (as quoted in B. Haskell, Marsden Hartley, New York, 1980, p. 58)

Hartley first approached the landscape with pastels, making numerous sketches and large scale works of which Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico is a superb example. The artist extolled the ability of the medium to capture the unique topography and hues of the place, writing to Alfred Stieglitz that it allowed him to "get a line on the qualities [of the landscape]." (as quoted in E.M. Kornhauser, ed., Marsden Hartley, New Haven, Connecticut, 2002, p. 301)