English: Lobster Fishermen

Artist: Marsden Hartley (American, Lewiston, Maine 1877–1943 Ellsworth, Maine) Date: 1940–41 Medium: Oil on hardboard (masonite) Dimensions: 29 3/4 x 40 7/8in. (75.6 x 103.8cm) Classification: Paintings Credit Line: Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1942

In the mid-1930s, after many restless years of personal and artistic exploration, Hartley began to focus his art on his home state of Maine. Aware of Maine’s reputation as a natural oasis from city life and responsive to the popularity of folk art—including John Kane’s work, Hartley adopted a self-consciously "primitive" style. In 1940 he moved to the small coastal town of Corea, where lobstering remained a viable, but difficult way of life. Here, he painted men gathered on a wharf with their lobster traps, a scene that conveys the profound integration of man and nature.