Detail of Lobster Fishermen by Marsden Hartley in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2011

Lobster Fishermen

Marsden Hartley (American, Lewiston, Maine 1877–1943 Ellsworth, Maine)

Date: 1940–41

Medium: Oil on Masonite

Dimensions: H. 29-3/4, W. 40-7/8 inches (75.6 x 103.8 cm.)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1942

Accession Number: 42.160

Description:

Although Hartley felt disconnected from most people and places, Maine came closest to being home. To adequately express the rugged landscape and hardy people he saw there, he adopted a deliberately primitive, "archaic" style for his late work. In 1940 Hartley moved to the small coastal town of Corea, where lobstering was a way of life. Here, he painted the men gathered on a wharf with their lobster traps. The scene not only conveys the details of their surroundings and gear but also suggests the profound unity of man and nature.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/2100...