{"data":{"id":"2624","type":"artwork","attributes":{"id":2624,"topgoose_id":18200,"portfolio_id":null,"tms_id":2624,"title":"Forms Abstracted","display_artist_text":"Marsden Hartley","display_date":"1914","accession_number":"52.37a-b","dimensions":"Overall: 39 5/8 × 31 13/16 in. (100.6 × 80.8 cm)","medium":"Oil on canvas, with wood frame","department":"collection","classification":"Paintings","credit_line":"Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Hudson D. Walker and exchange","is_virtual":false,"is_portfolio":false,"portfolio_tms_id":null,"portfolio":null,"edition":null,"publication_info":"","description":"\u003cp\u003eMarsden Hartley, \u003cem\u003eForms Abstracted\u003c/em\u003e, 1914. Oil on canvas, with wood frame, overall: 39 5/8 × 31 13/16 in. (100.6 × 80.8 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Hudson D. Walker and exchange 52.37a-b\u003c/p\u003e","object_label":"\u003cp\u003eIn 1912, Marsden Hartley sailed for Europe, settling first in Paris and later in Berlin. The increasingly nationalist, militaristic atmosphere of the imperial German capital on the brink of war would soon inspire Hartley to turn to heraldic imagery as subject matter for his paintings. With its palette of black, red, and white and its flattened color planes with interlocking designs, \u003ci\u003eForms Abstracted\u003c/i\u003e begins to show this influence, anticipating the artist’s subsequent \u003ci\u003eWar Motif\u003c/i\u003e series. The composition also suggests the impact of Hartley’s encounters with the Munich-based Blaue Reiter artists Franz Marc and Wassily Kandinsky. Painted the year of his visit to Kandinsky’s studio, \u003ci\u003eForms Abstracted\u003c/i\u003e recalls the Blaue Reiter artists’ preoccupation with animals and religious folk-art subjects. Here, Hartley embraces a spiritual theme, depicting the Lamb of God surrounded by radiating orbs, with a painted frame concept borrowed from folk art sources.\u003c/p\u003e","ai_alt_text":"A stylized white ram reclining amid colorful starburst shapes and bold circular patterns.","alt_text":null,"visual_description":null,"on_view":false,"created_at":"2017-08-31T10:20:49.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-02-06T12:01:27.915-05:00","images":[{"id":94487,"url":"https://whitneymedia.org/assets/artwork/2624/52_37_cropped.jpg"}]},"relationships":{"artists":{"data":[{"id":"572","type":"artist"}]}}}}