Bowdoin College Museum of Art

• Marsden Hartley
• American, 1877-1943
• Maine Coast at Vinalhaven, 1938-1939
• oil on academy board
• Gift of Mrs. Charles Phillip Kuntz
• 1950.8

Like many of Hartley’s late marines, Maine Coast at Vinalhaven expresses the artist’s sympathetic response to the elemental strength of his native land. The subject is the rocky seacoast in the vicinity of Vinalhaven Island in Penobscot Bay: in the foreground, wind-whipped waves lash unyielding stone; storm clouds pass overhead and in the distance, a pine-covered shoreline broods in solid silence. The movement of wind and water is plainly evident through the artist’s use of dynamic diagonal lines and short choppy brushstrokes. Overall, the impression is one of contained power as the force of the storm balances the strength of the rock.