Pears and Lemons, Marsden Hartley

Artwork Overview

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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Images

Label texts

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?

Exhibitions

Stephen Goddard, curator
John Pultz, curator
1995
Amy Duke, curator
Rachel Straughn-Navarro, curator
Kristina Walker, curator
2019
Amy Duke, curator
Rachel Straughn-Navarro, curator
Kristina Walker, curator
2019