Berlin Abstraction

Berlin Abstraction is one of more than a dozen deeply symbolic and personal paintings Marsden Hartley produced in 1914 and 1915. These oils contain coded references to Hartley's life in Berlin's vibrant homosexual culture and the role of the German military in that culture, as well as an outpouring of the artist's thoughts about war. In particular, they memorialize the artist's cherished friend Karl von Freyburg, a young German lieutenant killed in action during World War I.

The mosaiclike arrangement of symbols and signs in Berlin Abstraction evokes the military pageantry that so impressed Hartley in Berlin: the sleeve cuffs and epaulets of uniforms; a helmet cockade denoted by two concentric circles; and the blue-and-white, diamond-patterned Bavarian flag. Other symbols refer specifically to Freyburg: the red number four signifies the Fourth Regiment of the Kaiser's guards, in which he fought, and the red-and-white checkerboard pattern recalls his love of chess. The central black cross on a white background circumscribed by red and white circles is likely an abstraction of the Iron Cross medal for bravery, which was bestowed posthumously on Freyburg. The calligraphic red letter E refers to Elisabeth, queen of Greece, the patroness of the regiment of Freyburg's cousin, sculptor Arnold Rönnebeck. The painting was strongly influenced by modernism, to which Hartley had been exposed during his European study. For example, the juxtaposition of flat, geometric, black-outlined shapes evidences his interest in synthetic cubism, which he saw in Pablo Picasso's paintings at Gertude and Leo Stein's famous 1912 salon in Paris, where he also met the artist.

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