Believe it or not, this painting is a portrait! Instead of painting the way someone looked, Marsden Hartley used symbols to represent the person.
He combined them like a puzzle, sometimes using parts of the symbols, or overlapping them. A symbol represents or stands for something else. Flags are symbols for countries, right? And hearts are symbols for love. Rather than naming this painting after the person, Hartley called it
Painting, Number 5.
OK. Do you see that red cross? Look for part of another cross close by. That black one is a medal for bravery.
Now find something that looks like part of a uniform. They are blue, white, and red, with small yellow circles. See them? Those are called epaulets, and they’re like shoulder pads. Hmmm, now who could be represented by medals and uniforms?
In the early part of last century, Marsden Hartley traveled to Europe and he stayed in Berlin, in Germany. He met an officer named Karl von Freyburg, who died in the First World War. Hartley was saddened by his friend’s death, and he made this painting to remember him.
If you made a portrait of yourself or the person with you, what symbols, shapes, and colors would you include?
