Skip to main content

Photography by Edward C. Robison III

Still Life No. 1

Reverse painting on glass is a centuries-old form, used by artists from a wide range of cultures and time periods. For this technique, the artist applies paint to the back of the glass surface, with the resulting image then viewed from the opposite side. Marsden Hartley admired European and American folk art reverse painting on glass from the nineteenth century. He experimented with the technique in a number of still life paintings.

ArtistMarsden Hartley(1877-1943)
Date1917
MediumReverse oil on glass
Dimensions12 7/8 x 9 1/2 x 1 in. (44.1 x 35.7 x 5.1 cm)
Credit LineAlfred Stieglitz Collection, Co-owned by Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
ClassificationPainting
Provenanceacquired from the Artist by Alfred Stieglitz [1864-1946], New York, NY; by bequest to Georgia O’Keeffe [1887-1986] (his wife), New York, NY, 1946; given to Fisk University, Nashville, TN, 1949; to Fisk University, Nashville, TN, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR (owned jointly), 2012
On ViewNo
Still Life No. 112.9 × 9.5 in.Tennis Ball2.7 in. diameter

This artwork's face covers about 17× the area of a tennis ball.Drawn to the same scale.