Coloring Book of the Art of Marsden Hartley

The first coloring book devoted to the art of Marsden Hartley, the key figure in the development of American Modernist Art.

Throughout his career as a painter he loved being in Nature, and felt most at home there. Making art was so important to him that he lived very simply, and mostly alone. He wrote poems about the experiences he was having, and made paintings that helped him express the strong feelings inside of himself. His paintings were sometimes of mountains or skies, sometimes of animals or flowers, or people or of ocean weaves - but in all these paintings he felt that the use of color was extremely important.

After traveling in Europe, Hartley returned to the United States and painted some of its most beautiful places: on the beaches of Cape Cod, in the deserts of the American Southwest, and in the mountains and valleys of California. He even spent some time in Mexico. In each of these places the colors he experienced were different - not just the colors of the landscape, but the colors of the art made by the people who had lived there for many generations. He was fascinated by the art of the Native Americans, the Egyptians, the Bavarian Peasants, and the Aztecs. As a result, many of the patterns, images, and colors that occurred in their art became part of Hartley''s art, too.

This new colouring book is devoted to the remarkable artwork of the pre-eminent American modernist Marsden Hartley (1877 1943). Hartley grew up in poverty in Maine, but, full of creativity and imagination, he dreamed of travel and adventure. He made his way to Europe in the years before the First World War and created exciting modernist paintings based on the visual influences that he encountered in the vibrant cities of Paris, Berlin and Munich. Solitary by nature, Hartley never lost his wanderlust, and throughout his life found inspiration in many other landscapes and cultures, including in southern France, Italy, Bermuda, New Mexico, Mexico and Canada. When ultimately he returned to the Maine of his childhood, Hartley did so with decades of artistic knowledge and cultural engagement. This book provides the opportunity to immerse yourself in the natural world that Hartley loved: the vast deserts of the American Southwest, the windswept beaches of New England, the sun-soaked hillsides of Provence, and the dramatic peaks of the Bavarian Alps. Also featured are some of Hartley's powerful still lifes and abstract compositions genres in which he often experimented with new ideas, styles and motifs and several striking potraits. Be guided by Hartley's bold use of colour or express yourself through your own choice of palette and design! AUTHOR: Rick Kinsel is President of the Vilcek Foundation in New York. In this role, he manages the Vilcek Collection, conceives and facilitates the curation of travelling exhibitions based on the collection, and oversees the foundation's primary operations in the award of prizes and grants in the ar ts, sciences and humanities. Paula Kinsel is an artist, graphic designer and art director whose projects include still and motion graphics for film, television and independent art productions. 34 line drawings, 29 colour illustrations