Pears and Lemons

Marsden Hartley, artist

1877–1943

Pears and Lemons, 1927

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: pencil; wove paper

Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 36.2 x 28.7 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 14 1/4 x 11 5/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 25 x 20 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: Letha Churchill Walker Memorial Art Fund

Accession number: 1972.0025

Not on display

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Drawing Studio: Still Life

The repetition of short diagonal pencil lines is all it takes to capture the way light defines the shapes of the pears, lemons, and vase on a table in Marsden Hartley’s loosely sketched drawing.
Hartley’s still life, created while he was living in Berlin, Germany, in the 1920s, reflects his admiration for modern European artists, particularly French artist Paul Cezanne (1839–1906). Cezanne simplified ordinary objects to their essential geometric forms and often tilted surfaces toward the viewer, compressing the space depicted.

What basic shapes can be found in the objects arranged for you to sketch?