Contents:
- “ESSENTIALLY MASCULE”: MARSN HARTLEY, GAY INTY, AND THE WILHELME GERMAN MILARY
- "ESSENTIALLY MASCULE": MARSN HARTLEY, GAY INTY, AND THE WILHELME GERMAN MILARY
- A GAY AMERIN ARTIST KAISER’S BERLMARSN HARTLEYIN SEARCH OF A MORE ACCEPTG SOCIETY, PATER MARSN HARTLEY SETTLED PRE-WWI BERL, WHERE HE WAS ENCHANTED BY THE ARY PAGEANTRY AND A GERMAN SOLDIER’S LOVE.SARAH BAY WILLIAMSUPDATED JUL. 12, 2017 6:08PM EDT / PUBLISHED AUG. 10, 2014 5:45AM EDT THE DAILY BEASTHE WALKED KNOWG HE WAS BETIFUL, WH HIS HARD GAZE AND SLIGHTLY FEME MOUTH, AND I WAS STCK. HE HAD THE MARSN HARTLEY T-SHIRT AND I LOVED MARSN HARTLEY. HE RO A MOTORCYCLE. THE MONALI FELT LIKE A MIRACLE TO ME. I REALIZED WHEN HE SAT DOWN THAT HE HAD MA HIS T-SHIRT LOGO WH A PEN. IT WAS NOT SILKSCREENED. HE’D SIMPLY WRTEN MARSN HARTLEY. HE ULD’VE WRTEN ANYTHG AND THAT WAS WHAT HE WROTE.RACHEL KHNER, THE FLAME THROWERSIT SOUNDS LIKE THE NAME OF A MOTORCYCLE PANY: MARSN HARTLEY. BUT MARSN HARTLEY WAS A 20TH-CENTURY PATER, SLOW AS OIL PAT OM A BSH. AN AMERIN ABSTRACTNIST THE EARLY DAYS, AT A TIME WHEN THIS KD OF ART WAS PRIMARILY ARRIVG OM EUROPEAN PATERS LIKE PISSO, CEZANNE, AND MATISSE, HARTLEY WAS MAKG SPONTANEO EMOTNAL POSNS THAT SPOKE BURSTS AND SHARDS OF SYMBOL AND LOR. A RTLS AMERIN WHO RARELY LIVED ONE PLACE FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS, HE KNEW HE WAS AFTER SOMETHG DIFFERENT. HE LEFT THE U.S., SEEKG A SPIRUAL AND METAPHYSIL NNECTN FOR HIS WORK ELSEWHERE. I WAS SURPRISED TO E ACROSS THIS REFERENCE TO HARTLEY RACHEL KHNER’S CRILLY ACCLAIMED NOVEL THE FLAME THROWERS—A STORY THAT FOLLOWS AN IMPRSNABLE TWENTY-SOMETHG NCEPTUAL ARTIST 1970S NEW YORK WHOSE PRIMARY MEDIUM OF ART-MAKG IS A MOTORCYCLE. 1970S NCEPTUAL ART WAS REACTNARY TO MORNISM—PTED AGAST THE ROMANTICISM AND ANTI-TELLECTUALISM OF PAT ON NVAS. CONCEPTUALISM EXPLOD THE ART EXPERIENCE, MA AN IA AND EXPERIENCE, AND SOMETHG MORE THAN PURELY VISUAL. YET RENO, KHNER’S MA CHARACTER, ADMS TO LOVG THE ART OF MARSN HARTLEY. KHNER, AN E-MAIL, SAID THE REFERENCE ME TO HER WHILE SHE WAS WRG. HARTLEY’S WORK WAS TRODUCED TO HER BY THE LATE CURATOR WALTER HOPPS WHILE THEY WERE WORKG TOGETHER ON A “BERL” ISSUE OF GRAND STREET MAGAZE THE LATE 1990S, WHERE HOPPS WAS ART EDOR. HARTLEY LEFT THIS UNTRY FOR A SHORT STAY PARIS AND THEN TRAVELED ONTO BERL BETWEEN 1913 AND 1915 ON THE CP OF WORLD WAR I, MAKG A SERI OF PATGS NOW ON VIEW AT THE LOS ANGEL COUNTY MM OF ART AS PART OF THE EXHIBN MARSN HARTLEY: THE GERMAN PATGS 1913–1915. KHNER REMEMBERS THE PATGS WH THEIR “SHAGGY AND TACTILE AND SOFT QUALY OF THE HARD AND BRIGHT TON—BLACK, WHE, RED, GREEN, YELLOW, BLUE.” SHE VISED HARTLEY’S PORTRA OF A GERMAN OFFICER (1914) AT THE METROPOLAN MM OF ART. “I WAS JT REALLY AWED BY THOSE WORKS,” SAYS KHNER, “AND CID THEY WERE SOME OF MY FAVORE PATGS OF ALL TIME.” AND—ONE DAY AFTER WORKG WH HOPPS ON THE BERL ISSUE—SHE RETURNED HOME TO HER APARTMENT ON THE LOWER EAST SI TO FD A MAN SHE HAD BEIEND, A GUY WHO, OM WHAT HE HAD TOLD HER, “HAD THIS WHOLE LIFE AS AN ARTIST THE 1970S,” NOW A HOMELS HANDYMAN WORKG ON HER BUILDG, NODDG OFF ON HER STOOP ON A HERO HIGH, AS HE WAS WONT TO DO, WEARG A MARSN HARTLEY T-SHIRT. NOT HANDWRTEN, BUT TOTALLY CINTAL THAT MAGIL WAY THAT OBSCURE TOPICS TEND TO BUNCH THEMSELV UP ONE’S LIFE; MULTIPL OF GOODNS STRANGE HERO-TGED GUISE. WHO KNOWS IF THIS 1990S-HOMELS ARTIST WHO HAD THRIVED SOME WAY THE 1970S NEW YORK ART SCENE WAS WEARG THIS MARSN HARTLEY SHIRT OUT OF RPECT, IRONY, OR SIMPLY BEE WAS SOMETHG EASILY GRABBED OFF THE FLOOR THE PANIC OF MORNG WHDRAWAL, BUT KHNER’S REIMAGG OF THE SCENE—THIS SHIRT DO MAKE SENSE. IT WAS THE MORNISTS LIKE MARSN HARTLEY—A MAN WHO MERGED EMOTNAL EXPRSN WH ABSTRACTN AND MA WORKS THAT WERE MORE THAN PURELY A VISUAL EXPERIENCE, WORKS THAT LVED EP TO PLEXI OF GENR, POLICS, AND SOCIAL NORMS—THAT GAVE THE NCEPTUAL ART MOVEMENT S HOOK, AN AVANT GAR PLACE OF THENTICY AND MYSTERY OM WHICH TO PROPEL FORTH.MARSN HARTLEY LEFT THE UNED STAT 1912 AFTER A SUCCSFUL EXHIBN AT ALED STIEGLZ’S LTLE GALLERI OF THE PHOTO-SECSN NEW YORK, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS “291” FOR THE BUILDG’S ADDRS ON FIFTH AVENUE. HARTLEY WAS DRAWN TO PARIS AFTER HAVG BEEN TRODUCED, AS MOST STIEGLZ’S CIRCLE WERE, TO THE WORKS OF PISSO, CEZANNE, AND MATISSE THROUGH PREV EXHIBNS AT 291. IN EUROPE HE ENUNTERED OTHER ARTISTS WHO SPIRED AND HELPED HIM: GERT STE, CHARL DEMUTH, ROBERT DELNAY, WASSILY KANDSKY, AND OTHERS OF THE EXPRSNIST DER BLE REER (THE BLUE RIR) GROUP OM MUNICH. HE BEGAN PATG WHAT HE WOULD LL “TUIVE ABSTRACTNS,” AND “SMIC CUBISM.” IN A 1913 LETTER REPRTED A BOOK OF RRPONNCE EDED BY JAM TIMOTHY VOORHI, MY DEAR STIEGLZ: LETTERS OF MARSN HARTLEY AND ALED STIEGLZ 1912–1915, HARTLEY WROTE TO STIEGLZ ABOUT THE LONGGS THAT THROUGH “TRICKS OF CIRCUMSTANCE HAVE BEEN LEFT UNSATISFIED.” HARTLEY WAS A GAY MAN EXPERIENCG PA THAT “GROWS STRONGER STEAD OF LS AND LEAV ONE NOTHG BUT THE ROLE OF SPECTATOR LIFE WATCHG LIFE GO BY.” AFTER BEG TRODUCED TO A GERMAN SCULPTOR, ARNOLD RöNNEBECK AND HIS , A PSSIAN OFFICER NAM CARL VON FREYBURG PARIS, HE TOOK THEM UP ON AN OFFER TO VIS BERL, WHERE THGS WERE DIFFERENT, AND, SOON, THE RTLS ARTIST WAS LIVG THERE.AT THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY, DURG KAISER WILHELM II’S REIGN, THE CLEANLS, ORRLS, AND SEEMG LM OF GERMANY WELED THE WANRG SOUL OF HARTLEY. THERE WAS A WILHELME “CULT OF MANLS,” AS DR. PATRICIA MCDONNELL PUTS HER 1997 SAY ON HARTLEY AND GAY INTY BERL. MCDONNELL NOT THAT HIS LETTERS, HARTLEY REVELED THAT “THE IMPERIAL GUARD WAS PERPETUAL MOTN ABOUT THE CY, AND THEIR DISPLAYS WERE TOXITG FOR HIM.” BERL WAS “WHOUT QUTN THE FT MORN CY EUROPE,” HE WROTE, AND HIS NEW IEND CARL VON FREYBURG SUMMED UP “A TE REPRENTATIVE OF ALL THAT IS LOVELY AND SPLENDID THE GERMAN SOUL AND CHARACTER.” HOMOSEXUALY HAD BEEN ILLEGAL GERMANY SCE 1871 UNR A LAW NMNG “UNNATURAL VICE BETWEEN MEN,” KNOWN AS “PARAGRAPH 175.” BUT A PNEERG PHYSICIAN, SEXOLOGIST, AND GAY RIGHTS ADVOTE NAMED MAGN HIRSCHFELD HAD BEEN LEADG THE GERMAN HOMOSEXUAL EMANCIPATN MOVEMENT SCE THE LATE 1890S, PROFSG THAT HOMOSEXUALS WERE A “THIRD SEX”—AS RIGHT AND NATURAL AS ANY OTHER SEX—AND WERE UNJTLY DISCRIMATED AGAST. ACRDG TO BCE ROBERTSON HIS SAY FOR THE MARSN HARTLEY EXHIBN TALOG, “EXPERTS AT THE TIME CLAIMED THAT THERE WERE AT LEAST THIRTY THOAND MALE HOMOSEXUALS BERL.... HIRSCHFELD AND OTHERS MAPPED THE STCTURE, CULTURE, AND TOPOGRAPHY OF GAY BERL THE POPULAR ACUNT BERLS DRT GCHLECHT (BERL’S THIRD SEX, 1904) AND A NUMBER OF MORE SPECIALIZED SOCLOGIL AND MEDIL REPORTS.” A WORTHWHILE ADDN TO MARSN HARTLEY: THE GERMAN PATGS 1913–1915 AT LACMA IS A TEN-MUTE CLIP OF THE “LOST” AND PASTAKGLY RTORED SILENT FILM ANRS ALS DIE ANRN (§ 175) (DIFFERENT OM THE OTHERS (PARAGRAPH 175)), FOR WHICH HIRSCHFELD WAS A NSULTANT 1919. HIRSCHFELD IS ST AS HIMSELF, A SEXOLOGIST ADVISG THE PARENTS OF A VL VIRTUOSO: “YOU MTN’T THK POORLY OF YOUR SON BEE HE IS HOMOSEXUAL. HE IS NOT AT ALL TO BLAME FOR HIS ORIENTATN,” READ THE TLE RDS, “YOUR SON SUFFERS NOT OM HIS NDN, BUT RATHER OM THE FALSE JUDGMENT OF .” IT IS PERHAPS THE FIRST FILM EVER TO PRENT HOMOSEXUALY AS A “VARIANCE,” NOT AN ANOMALY, AS NORMAL AS GREEN OR HAZEL EY.BUT BACK UP FOR A MOMENT—BACK TO THE BEGNG OF THE WAR—ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. ACRDG TO THE TALOG SAY BY DIETER SCHOLZ, CURATOR FOR THE EXHIBN’S BERL RNATN AT THE NE NATNALGALERIE EARLIER THIS YEAR, AS EMPEROR FRANZ JOSEPH OF ATRIA-HUNGARY CLARED WAR ON SERBIA, AND TSAR NICHOLAS II MOBILIZED HIS RSIAN ARMED FORC TO SUPPORT SERBIA, HARTLEY WAS MARVELG AT THE STILLNS AND THE “PSYCHIC TENSN WHICH IS SUPERB AND AWOME” THROUGHOUT THE CY OF BERL. THOANDS WALKED THE STREETS LMLY SGG GERMAN FOLKSONGS. OTHERS DISCSED FéS THE POSSIBILY OF WAR. BY AUGT 1, 1914, KAISER WILHELM II WAS DRAWG UP ADL, RELUCTANTLY CHALLENGG RSIA, AND PREPARG THE GERMAN PEOPL TO BE READY TO GIVE “BLOOD AND MONEY” SPEECH “OM THE BALNY OF THE MASS,” WHILE ALSO PROMISG THE GERMAN SOLDIERS “YOU WILL BE HOME BEFORE THE LEAV FALL OM THE TRE” AS THEY MARCHED OFF TO THE AY.THE FIRST TRENCH OF THE WTERN ONT WERE DUG SEPTEMBER, AND, ON OCTOBER 7, 1914, THE NORTHERN BATTLEFIELDS OF FRANCE, CARL VON FREYBURG WAS KILLED.AFTER SEVERAL WEEKS OF SHOCK AND MOURNG, HARTLEY BEGAN A SERI OF PATGS KNOWN AS THE WAR MOTIF PATGS. WHAT RACHEL KHNER SCRIBED AS THE “SHAGGY AND TACTILE AND SOFT QUALY OF THE HARD AND BRIGHT TON,” TWIST AND S ACROSS EP BLACK BACKGROUNDS ON NVAS, DARK AS ATH. ON A WALKTHROUGH OF THE EXHIBN, LACMA CURATOR STEPHANIE BARRON EXPLAED THE INOGRAPHY OF THIS SERI, SUCH AS IS SEEN THE IRON CROSS (1915), WH S EPONYMO HOVERG EISERNE KRZ. BARRON POTED TO THE NUMBER FOUR, VON FREYBURG’S REGIMENT NUMBER, AND THE CURLICUE OF A RED “E” FOR THE QUEEN ELISABETH REGIMENT OF GRENADIER GUARDS OF WHICH RöNNEBECK WAS A PART (RöNNEBECK WAS ALSO JURED EARLY THE WAR, BUT SURVIVED). TARGET-LIKE ROSETT REPRENT THE CKAS THE IMPERIAL LORS WORN AS BADG ON ARY HATS, AND THE BLACK-AND-WHE CHSBOARD SS FOR ONE OF VON FREYBURG’S FAVORE PASTIM, THE GAME OF CHS. THE WAR MOTIF PATGS, SENTIALLY A TWELVE-PART ELEGY TO HARTLEY’S CLOSE IEND AND PERHAPS LOVER, OR LOVER-TO-BE, ARE POWERFULLY “SHAGGY.” THEY ARE AS HEARTRENDG AS HARTLEY’S EARLIER PATGS CELEBRATG GERMAN POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE ARE ILLUMATG. THE EARLIER THE WARRRS (1913), FOR STANCE, BUBBL WH A PANOPLY OF PAGEANTRY, DOZENS OF SOLDIERS ON HORSEBACK, CLAD WHE, GIDDY AND HAPPY WH LIGHT. THE MYSTIL SYMBOLISM OF PORTRA OF BERL (1913) RPORAT A FIGURE OF THE BUDDHA AND THE NUMBER EIGHT A TRIANGLE, EIGHT HAVG HAD MYSTIL PROPERTI FOR HARTLEY THAT VOLVED REGENERATN—HE SAW THE NUMBER EIGHT EVERYWHERE GERMANY THE FORM OF THE GERMAN EIGHT-POTED STAR. THE WAR MOTIF PATGS ARE ALSO MORE THENTILLY SENTIMENTAL THAN HIS LATER SERI PATED DURG THIS PERD EUROPE, AMERIKA, ALSO ON VIEW AT LACMA. INSPIRED BY HIS ENUNTERS WH EXTENSIVE LLECTNS OF NATIVE AMERIN ARTIFACTS HOED BOTH PARIS AND BERL, HARTLEY’S AMERIKA PATGS RPORATE NORTH-AMERIN NATIVE AMERIN SYMBOLISM WH HIS SAME BLOCKY AND LORFUL STYLE. YET, ALL, THE PATGS ARE OVERLY EXPLIC, G OM AN AGE—AS WELL AS A EUROPEAN SOURCE—THAT EASILY FOUND A MYSTER OTHER NATIVE AMERIN CULTURE.MARSN HARTLEY RETURNED TO THE UNED STAT 1915. NOTHG WAS GETTG BETTER ABOUT THE FIRST MECHANIZED WAR TO END ALL WARS AND HARTLEY’S RTLSNS HAD REASON TO RURFACE AN ENEMY UNTRY DURG A WAR THAT WAS SHOWG LTLE EVINCE OF ROLUTN.HIS PATGS WERE HELD UP OVER THE BORRS UNTIL 1916, BUT HE EVENTUALLY WAS ABLE TO RETRIEVE THEM AND STIEGLZ AGREED TO SHOW THE WAR MOTIF PATGS AT 291. NEEDLS TO SAY, A PREVALENCE OF IRON CROSS, GERMAN EPLETS, AND THE SIGNIA OF THE CUIRASSIERS WERE NOT EMBRACED BY THE NEW YORK ART WORLD A YEAR AFTER THE OCEAN LER LANIA WAS SUNK BY A GERMAN U-BOAT, KILLG 1,195 PASSENGERS AND CREW, CLUDG 123 AMERINS. HARTLEY, A TEXT FOR THE EXHIBN, LATER PUBLISHED CAMERA WORK, WROTE: “THERE IS NO HIDN SYMBOLISM WHATSOEVER THEM; THERE IS NO SLIGHT TENTN OF THAT ANYWHERE. THGS UNR OBSERVATN, JT PICTUR ANY DAY, ANY HOUR. I HAVE EXPRSED ONLY WHAT I HAVE SEEN. THEY ARE MERELY NSULTATNS OF THE EYE — NO SENSE PROBLEM; MY NOTN OF THE PURELY PICTORIAL.” ONE HUNDRED YEARS LATER, THIS SYMBOLISM IS ED NOT SO HIDN, BUT THEY ARE MUCH MORE THAN “MERELY NSULTATNS OF THE EYE,” AND A SIGNIFINT PORTRA MA A CY WHERE ONE ULD FEEL EE TO BE AHEAD OF ONE’S TIME. MARSN HARTLEY: THE GERMAN PATGS 1913–1915 IS OPEN AT THE LOS ANGEL COUNTY MM OF ART THROUGH NOVEMBER 30, 2014EDOR'S NOTE: THIS PIECE HAS BEEN UPDATED TO REFLECT THAT RöNNEBECK WAS A MEMBER OF THE QUEEN ELISABETH REGIMENT OF GRENADIER GUARDS. SARAH BAY WILLIAMS
“ESSENTIALLY MASCULE”: MARSN HARTLEY, GAY INTY, AND THE WILHELME GERMAN MILARY
ONE OF THE BEST-KNOWN imag of Marsn Hartley (1877–1943) to through the lens of the great gay photographer Gee Platt Lyn a photograph om 1943, shortly before Hartley’s ath.
Philip Clark is at work on a bgraphy of gay publisher and First Amendment pneer H. In veiled reference to his homosexualy, Hartley wrote to Stieglz of a pa that "grows stronger stead of ls and leav one nothg but the role of spectator life watchg life go by.
"ESSENTIALLY MASCULE": MARSN HARTLEY, GAY INTY, AND THE WILHELME GERMAN MILARY
Although Paragraph 175 of the German crimal —which emed homosexual acts between mal a crime—had been place sce 1871, the polil thori and police Berl had bee knowgly tolerant their treatment of homosexualy, wh rerds ditg more than 40 gay clubs active durg the 1910s. In 1915, wh the war tensifyg, Owen joed the Artists' Rifl Officers' Trag Corps, and spent several months London, where he was able to equent the cy's Poetry Bookshop and get to know the gay wrers of the famed Bloomsbury Circle. Here Hartley sexualiz the arism of the German people, visualizg the nnectns between the cult of masculy prevalent the ary and homosexual cultur of Wilhelme Germany.
Jt as Portra of a German Officer is d wh layers of meang that Hartley uld not otherwise munite at a time of tolerance toward homosexuals, so too did he need to mask the tentn of his German patgs upon his return to the Uned Stat 1915. Yet the homosexual wrers of his day who knew Owen and who survived the war nfirmed his te inty.
[4] One generatn later, the director Derek Jarman—an activist the artistic muny who railed agast the nservatism of Margaret Thatcher's ernment and the horrors of the AIDS epimic, to which he would ultimately succumb 1994—ma a silent film sred only by the War Requiem that clud visual cu to the futily of war, the arrogant greed of ernmental and relig anizatns—and Owen's homosexualy. [1] The role of Germany, and pecially Berl, the gay-rights movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuri is surprisg to ntemporary rears.
A GAY AMERIN ARTIST KAISER’S BERLMARSN HARTLEYIN SEARCH OF A MORE ACCEPTG SOCIETY, PATER MARSN HARTLEY SETTLED PRE-WWI BERL, WHERE HE WAS ENCHANTED BY THE ARY PAGEANTRY AND A GERMAN SOLDIER’S LOVE.SARAH BAY WILLIAMSUPDATED JUL. 12, 2017 6:08PM EDT / PUBLISHED AUG. 10, 2014 5:45AM EDT THE DAILY BEASTHE WALKED KNOWG HE WAS BETIFUL, WH HIS HARD GAZE AND SLIGHTLY FEME MOUTH, AND I WAS STCK. HE HAD THE MARSN HARTLEY T-SHIRT AND I LOVED MARSN HARTLEY. HE RO A MOTORCYCLE. THE MONALI FELT LIKE A MIRACLE TO ME. I REALIZED WHEN HE SAT DOWN THAT HE HAD MA HIS T-SHIRT LOGO WH A PEN. IT WAS NOT SILKSCREENED. HE’D SIMPLY WRTEN MARSN HARTLEY. HE ULD’VE WRTEN ANYTHG AND THAT WAS WHAT HE WROTE.RACHEL KHNER, THE FLAME THROWERSIT SOUNDS LIKE THE NAME OF A MOTORCYCLE PANY: MARSN HARTLEY. BUT MARSN HARTLEY WAS A 20TH-CENTURY PATER, SLOW AS OIL PAT OM A BSH. AN AMERIN ABSTRACTNIST THE EARLY DAYS, AT A TIME WHEN THIS KD OF ART WAS PRIMARILY ARRIVG OM EUROPEAN PATERS LIKE PISSO, CEZANNE, AND MATISSE, HARTLEY WAS MAKG SPONTANEO EMOTNAL POSNS THAT SPOKE BURSTS AND SHARDS OF SYMBOL AND LOR. A RTLS AMERIN WHO RARELY LIVED ONE PLACE FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS, HE KNEW HE WAS AFTER SOMETHG DIFFERENT. HE LEFT THE U.S., SEEKG A SPIRUAL AND METAPHYSIL NNECTN FOR HIS WORK ELSEWHERE. I WAS SURPRISED TO E ACROSS THIS REFERENCE TO HARTLEY RACHEL KHNER’S CRILLY ACCLAIMED NOVEL THE FLAME THROWERS—A STORY THAT FOLLOWS AN IMPRSNABLE TWENTY-SOMETHG NCEPTUAL ARTIST 1970S NEW YORK WHOSE PRIMARY MEDIUM OF ART-MAKG IS A MOTORCYCLE. 1970S NCEPTUAL ART WAS REACTNARY TO MORNISM—PTED AGAST THE ROMANTICISM AND ANTI-TELLECTUALISM OF PAT ON NVAS. CONCEPTUALISM EXPLOD THE ART EXPERIENCE, MA AN IA AND EXPERIENCE, AND SOMETHG MORE THAN PURELY VISUAL. YET RENO, KHNER’S MA CHARACTER, ADMS TO LOVG THE ART OF MARSN HARTLEY. KHNER, AN E-MAIL, SAID THE REFERENCE ME TO HER WHILE SHE WAS WRG. HARTLEY’S WORK WAS TRODUCED TO HER BY THE LATE CURATOR WALTER HOPPS WHILE THEY WERE WORKG TOGETHER ON A “BERL” ISSUE OF GRAND STREET MAGAZE THE LATE 1990S, WHERE HOPPS WAS ART EDOR. HARTLEY LEFT THIS UNTRY FOR A SHORT STAY PARIS AND THEN TRAVELED ONTO BERL BETWEEN 1913 AND 1915 ON THE CP OF WORLD WAR I, MAKG A SERI OF PATGS NOW ON VIEW AT THE LOS ANGEL COUNTY MM OF ART AS PART OF THE EXHIBN MARSN HARTLEY: THE GERMAN PATGS 1913–1915. KHNER REMEMBERS THE PATGS WH THEIR “SHAGGY AND TACTILE AND SOFT QUALY OF THE HARD AND BRIGHT TON—BLACK, WHE, RED, GREEN, YELLOW, BLUE.” SHE VISED HARTLEY’S PORTRA OF A GERMAN OFFICER (1914) AT THE METROPOLAN MM OF ART. “I WAS JT REALLY AWED BY THOSE WORKS,” SAYS KHNER, “AND CID THEY WERE SOME OF MY FAVORE PATGS OF ALL TIME.” AND—ONE DAY AFTER WORKG WH HOPPS ON THE BERL ISSUE—SHE RETURNED HOME TO HER APARTMENT ON THE LOWER EAST SI TO FD A MAN SHE HAD BEIEND, A GUY WHO, OM WHAT HE HAD TOLD HER, “HAD THIS WHOLE LIFE AS AN ARTIST THE 1970S,” NOW A HOMELS HANDYMAN WORKG ON HER BUILDG, NODDG OFF ON HER STOOP ON A HERO HIGH, AS HE WAS WONT TO DO, WEARG A MARSN HARTLEY T-SHIRT. NOT HANDWRTEN, BUT TOTALLY CINTAL THAT MAGIL WAY THAT OBSCURE TOPICS TEND TO BUNCH THEMSELV UP ONE’S LIFE; MULTIPL OF GOODNS STRANGE HERO-TGED GUISE. WHO KNOWS IF THIS 1990S-HOMELS ARTIST WHO HAD THRIVED SOME WAY THE 1970S NEW YORK ART SCENE WAS WEARG THIS MARSN HARTLEY SHIRT OUT OF RPECT, IRONY, OR SIMPLY BEE WAS SOMETHG EASILY GRABBED OFF THE FLOOR THE PANIC OF MORNG WHDRAWAL, BUT KHNER’S REIMAGG OF THE SCENE—THIS SHIRT DO MAKE SENSE. IT WAS THE MORNISTS LIKE MARSN HARTLEY—A MAN WHO MERGED EMOTNAL EXPRSN WH ABSTRACTN AND MA WORKS THAT WERE MORE THAN PURELY A VISUAL EXPERIENCE, WORKS THAT LVED EP TO PLEXI OF GENR, POLICS, AND SOCIAL NORMS—THAT GAVE THE NCEPTUAL ART MOVEMENT S HOOK, AN AVANT GAR PLACE OF THENTICY AND MYSTERY OM WHICH TO PROPEL FORTH.MARSN HARTLEY LEFT THE UNED STAT 1912 AFTER A SUCCSFUL EXHIBN AT ALED STIEGLZ’S LTLE GALLERI OF THE PHOTO-SECSN NEW YORK, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS “291” FOR THE BUILDG’S ADDRS ON FIFTH AVENUE. HARTLEY WAS DRAWN TO PARIS AFTER HAVG BEEN TRODUCED, AS MOST STIEGLZ’S CIRCLE WERE, TO THE WORKS OF PISSO, CEZANNE, AND MATISSE THROUGH PREV EXHIBNS AT 291. IN EUROPE HE ENUNTERED OTHER ARTISTS WHO SPIRED AND HELPED HIM: GERT STE, CHARL DEMUTH, ROBERT DELNAY, WASSILY KANDSKY, AND OTHERS OF THE EXPRSNIST DER BLE REER (THE BLUE RIR) GROUP OM MUNICH. HE BEGAN PATG WHAT HE WOULD LL “TUIVE ABSTRACTNS,” AND “SMIC CUBISM.” IN A 1913 LETTER REPRTED A BOOK OF RRPONNCE EDED BY JAM TIMOTHY VOORHI, MY DEAR STIEGLZ: LETTERS OF MARSN HARTLEY AND ALED STIEGLZ 1912–1915, HARTLEY WROTE TO STIEGLZ ABOUT THE LONGGS THAT THROUGH “TRICKS OF CIRCUMSTANCE HAVE BEEN LEFT UNSATISFIED.” HARTLEY WAS A GAY MAN EXPERIENCG PA THAT “GROWS STRONGER STEAD OF LS AND LEAV ONE NOTHG BUT THE ROLE OF SPECTATOR LIFE WATCHG LIFE GO BY.” AFTER BEG TRODUCED TO A GERMAN SCULPTOR, ARNOLD RöNNEBECK AND HIS , A PSSIAN OFFICER NAM CARL VON FREYBURG PARIS, HE TOOK THEM UP ON AN OFFER TO VIS BERL, WHERE THGS WERE DIFFERENT, AND, SOON, THE RTLS ARTIST WAS LIVG THERE.AT THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY, DURG KAISER WILHELM II’S REIGN, THE CLEANLS, ORRLS, AND SEEMG LM OF GERMANY WELED THE WANRG SOUL OF HARTLEY. THERE WAS A WILHELME “CULT OF MANLS,” AS DR. PATRICIA MCDONNELL PUTS HER 1997 SAY ON HARTLEY AND GAY INTY BERL. MCDONNELL NOT THAT HIS LETTERS, HARTLEY REVELED THAT “THE IMPERIAL GUARD WAS PERPETUAL MOTN ABOUT THE CY, AND THEIR DISPLAYS WERE TOXITG FOR HIM.” BERL WAS “WHOUT QUTN THE FT MORN CY EUROPE,” HE WROTE, AND HIS NEW IEND CARL VON FREYBURG SUMMED UP “A TE REPRENTATIVE OF ALL THAT IS LOVELY AND SPLENDID THE GERMAN SOUL AND CHARACTER.” HOMOSEXUALY HAD BEEN ILLEGAL GERMANY SCE 1871 UNR A LAW NMNG “UNNATURAL VICE BETWEEN MEN,” KNOWN AS “PARAGRAPH 175.” BUT A PNEERG PHYSICIAN, SEXOLOGIST, AND GAY RIGHTS ADVOTE NAMED MAGN HIRSCHFELD HAD BEEN LEADG THE GERMAN HOMOSEXUAL EMANCIPATN MOVEMENT SCE THE LATE 1890S, PROFSG THAT HOMOSEXUALS WERE A “THIRD SEX”—AS RIGHT AND NATURAL AS ANY OTHER SEX—AND WERE UNJTLY DISCRIMATED AGAST. ACRDG TO BCE ROBERTSON HIS SAY FOR THE MARSN HARTLEY EXHIBN TALOG, “EXPERTS AT THE TIME CLAIMED THAT THERE WERE AT LEAST THIRTY THOAND MALE HOMOSEXUALS BERL.... HIRSCHFELD AND OTHERS MAPPED THE STCTURE, CULTURE, AND TOPOGRAPHY OF GAY BERL THE POPULAR ACUNT BERLS DRT GCHLECHT (BERL’S THIRD SEX, 1904) AND A NUMBER OF MORE SPECIALIZED SOCLOGIL AND MEDIL REPORTS.” A WORTHWHILE ADDN TO MARSN HARTLEY: THE GERMAN PATGS 1913–1915 AT LACMA IS A TEN-MUTE CLIP OF THE “LOST” AND PASTAKGLY RTORED SILENT FILM ANRS ALS DIE ANRN (§ 175) (DIFFERENT OM THE OTHERS (PARAGRAPH 175)), FOR WHICH HIRSCHFELD WAS A NSULTANT 1919. HIRSCHFELD IS ST AS HIMSELF, A SEXOLOGIST ADVISG THE PARENTS OF A VL VIRTUOSO: “YOU MTN’T THK POORLY OF YOUR SON BEE HE IS HOMOSEXUAL. HE IS NOT AT ALL TO BLAME FOR HIS ORIENTATN,” READ THE TLE RDS, “YOUR SON SUFFERS NOT OM HIS NDN, BUT RATHER OM THE FALSE JUDGMENT OF .” IT IS PERHAPS THE FIRST FILM EVER TO PRENT HOMOSEXUALY AS A “VARIANCE,” NOT AN ANOMALY, AS NORMAL AS GREEN OR HAZEL EY.BUT BACK UP FOR A MOMENT—BACK TO THE BEGNG OF THE WAR—ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. ACRDG TO THE TALOG SAY BY DIETER SCHOLZ, CURATOR FOR THE EXHIBN’S BERL RNATN AT THE NE NATNALGALERIE EARLIER THIS YEAR, AS EMPEROR FRANZ JOSEPH OF ATRIA-HUNGARY CLARED WAR ON SERBIA, AND TSAR NICHOLAS II MOBILIZED HIS RSIAN ARMED FORC TO SUPPORT SERBIA, HARTLEY WAS MARVELG AT THE STILLNS AND THE “PSYCHIC TENSN WHICH IS SUPERB AND AWOME” THROUGHOUT THE CY OF BERL. THOANDS WALKED THE STREETS LMLY SGG GERMAN FOLKSONGS. OTHERS DISCSED FéS THE POSSIBILY OF WAR. BY AUGT 1, 1914, KAISER WILHELM II WAS DRAWG UP ADL, RELUCTANTLY CHALLENGG RSIA, AND PREPARG THE GERMAN PEOPL TO BE READY TO GIVE “BLOOD AND MONEY” SPEECH “OM THE BALNY OF THE MASS,” WHILE ALSO PROMISG THE GERMAN SOLDIERS “YOU WILL BE HOME BEFORE THE LEAV FALL OM THE TRE” AS THEY MARCHED OFF TO THE AY.THE FIRST TRENCH OF THE WTERN ONT WERE DUG SEPTEMBER, AND, ON OCTOBER 7, 1914, THE NORTHERN BATTLEFIELDS OF FRANCE, CARL VON FREYBURG WAS KILLED.AFTER SEVERAL WEEKS OF SHOCK AND MOURNG, HARTLEY BEGAN A SERI OF PATGS KNOWN AS THE WAR MOTIF PATGS. WHAT RACHEL KHNER SCRIBED AS THE “SHAGGY AND TACTILE AND SOFT QUALY OF THE HARD AND BRIGHT TON,” TWIST AND S ACROSS EP BLACK BACKGROUNDS ON NVAS, DARK AS ATH. ON A WALKTHROUGH OF THE EXHIBN, LACMA CURATOR STEPHANIE BARRON EXPLAED THE INOGRAPHY OF THIS SERI, SUCH AS IS SEEN THE IRON CROSS (1915), WH S EPONYMO HOVERG EISERNE KRZ. BARRON POTED TO THE NUMBER FOUR, VON FREYBURG’S REGIMENT NUMBER, AND THE CURLICUE OF A RED “E” FOR THE QUEEN ELISABETH REGIMENT OF GRENADIER GUARDS OF WHICH RöNNEBECK WAS A PART (RöNNEBECK WAS ALSO JURED EARLY THE WAR, BUT SURVIVED). TARGET-LIKE ROSETT REPRENT THE CKAS THE IMPERIAL LORS WORN AS BADG ON ARY HATS, AND THE BLACK-AND-WHE CHSBOARD SS FOR ONE OF VON FREYBURG’S FAVORE PASTIM, THE GAME OF CHS. THE WAR MOTIF PATGS, SENTIALLY A TWELVE-PART ELEGY TO HARTLEY’S CLOSE IEND AND PERHAPS LOVER, OR LOVER-TO-BE, ARE POWERFULLY “SHAGGY.” THEY ARE AS HEARTRENDG AS HARTLEY’S EARLIER PATGS CELEBRATG GERMAN POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE ARE ILLUMATG. THE EARLIER THE WARRRS (1913), FOR STANCE, BUBBL WH A PANOPLY OF PAGEANTRY, DOZENS OF SOLDIERS ON HORSEBACK, CLAD WHE, GIDDY AND HAPPY WH LIGHT. THE MYSTIL SYMBOLISM OF PORTRA OF BERL (1913) RPORAT A FIGURE OF THE BUDDHA AND THE NUMBER EIGHT A TRIANGLE, EIGHT HAVG HAD MYSTIL PROPERTI FOR HARTLEY THAT VOLVED REGENERATN—HE SAW THE NUMBER EIGHT EVERYWHERE GERMANY THE FORM OF THE GERMAN EIGHT-POTED STAR. THE WAR MOTIF PATGS ARE ALSO MORE THENTILLY SENTIMENTAL THAN HIS LATER SERI PATED DURG THIS PERD EUROPE, AMERIKA, ALSO ON VIEW AT LACMA. INSPIRED BY HIS ENUNTERS WH EXTENSIVE LLECTNS OF NATIVE AMERIN ARTIFACTS HOED BOTH PARIS AND BERL, HARTLEY’S AMERIKA PATGS RPORATE NORTH-AMERIN NATIVE AMERIN SYMBOLISM WH HIS SAME BLOCKY AND LORFUL STYLE. YET, ALL, THE PATGS ARE OVERLY EXPLIC, G OM AN AGE—AS WELL AS A EUROPEAN SOURCE—THAT EASILY FOUND A MYSTER OTHER NATIVE AMERIN CULTURE.MARSN HARTLEY RETURNED TO THE UNED STAT 1915. NOTHG WAS GETTG BETTER ABOUT THE FIRST MECHANIZED WAR TO END ALL WARS AND HARTLEY’S RTLSNS HAD REASON TO RURFACE AN ENEMY UNTRY DURG A WAR THAT WAS SHOWG LTLE EVINCE OF ROLUTN.HIS PATGS WERE HELD UP OVER THE BORRS UNTIL 1916, BUT HE EVENTUALLY WAS ABLE TO RETRIEVE THEM AND STIEGLZ AGREED TO SHOW THE WAR MOTIF PATGS AT 291. NEEDLS TO SAY, A PREVALENCE OF IRON CROSS, GERMAN EPLETS, AND THE SIGNIA OF THE CUIRASSIERS WERE NOT EMBRACED BY THE NEW YORK ART WORLD A YEAR AFTER THE OCEAN LER LANIA WAS SUNK BY A GERMAN U-BOAT, KILLG 1,195 PASSENGERS AND CREW, CLUDG 123 AMERINS. HARTLEY, A TEXT FOR THE EXHIBN, LATER PUBLISHED CAMERA WORK, WROTE: “THERE IS NO HIDN SYMBOLISM WHATSOEVER THEM; THERE IS NO SLIGHT TENTN OF THAT ANYWHERE. THGS UNR OBSERVATN, JT PICTUR ANY DAY, ANY HOUR. I HAVE EXPRSED ONLY WHAT I HAVE SEEN. THEY ARE MERELY NSULTATNS OF THE EYE — NO SENSE PROBLEM; MY NOTN OF THE PURELY PICTORIAL.” ONE HUNDRED YEARS LATER, THIS SYMBOLISM IS ED NOT SO HIDN, BUT THEY ARE MUCH MORE THAN “MERELY NSULTATNS OF THE EYE,” AND A SIGNIFINT PORTRA MA A CY WHERE ONE ULD FEEL EE TO BE AHEAD OF ONE’S TIME. MARSN HARTLEY: THE GERMAN PATGS 1913–1915 IS OPEN AT THE LOS ANGEL COUNTY MM OF ART THROUGH NOVEMBER 30, 2014EDOR'S NOTE: THIS PIECE HAS BEEN UPDATED TO REFLECT THAT RöNNEBECK WAS A MEMBER OF THE QUEEN ELISABETH REGIMENT OF GRENADIER GUARDS. SARAH BAY WILLIAMS
This is due large part to the Third Reich's expansn of Paragraph 175 1935, at which pot tens of thoands of gay men were imprisoned and sent to ncentratn mps wearg the mark of the pk triangle. Throughout the Wilhelme perd and the Weimar Republic, though, Germany had bee a bastn of sexual liberatn, even g close to crimalizg homosexualy fall 1929.
[3] The prence of homosexual activy the German ary was brought to the ternatnal stage by the Eulenburg Affair, which two close alli of Kaiser Wilhelm II were urt-martialed and put on trial for homosexual cency om 1907 to 1909. Although there is no evince that Hartley knew the particulars of the affair, this sndal's legacy would have been prevalent durg the artist's years Berl, as ntributed greatly to the shapg of the morn homosexual inty Germany.