has been loaned to Masterworks and is now on show at their gallery on Front Street.

Masterworks trustee, Mr. Tom Butterfield said last week that the painting by Marsden Hartley has been loaned by the owner, "hopefully for a few months. We are very excited to have this picture and hope it will pique people's interest in this great artist and the fact that here is another of the American artistic giants who spent time and worked in Bermuda. As we are able to do more research on Bermuda's artistic heritage we are finding that there is a strong connection between Bermuda and some of the leading American artists of the late 19th and early 20th century.'' There is evidence, in fact, that Marsden Hartley, who travelled to Bermuda for several months during the First World War (when tourism suffered a temporary setback) with fellow artist Charles Demuth, was as much attracted by the Island's cheapness as he was by its scenic attractions. This was an important consideration for Hartley, whose life continued to be rooted in poverty in spite of his burgeoning fame.

His still life, which is in oils and depicts a glass holding a fish-tail shaped, leafy plant on a small table, has a solid, pale pink background which is certainly reminiscent of the ubiquitous `Bermuda pink'.

Several art historians refer to a change in Hartley's work after his sojourn in Bermuda, exemplified by the lightening of his palette and reflecting the colourful ambience of the Island and its surrounding seas.

Unlike the impassioned intensity of his works painted just before, in pre-war Germany, the Bermuda series of paintings are referred to as being cool and delicate in comparison.

By spring of 1917, however, he was apparently suffering from a surfeit of Bermudian prettiness, writing to a friend that nature "wearies the eye with so much of its commonness.'' It was then that he turned to still lifes, and the Masterworks loan work is obviously one of that series, reflecting the cooler colours and formal composition.

Hartley's stay in Bermuda was important in that, although he was not particularly happy, this interlude did mark a shift in emphasis and style, both in his treatment of still lifes and the progression to his next stage.

This was when he enlivened them, rather in the style of the much admired Matisse, to depict the still life arrangements as seen through an open Bermuda window, sometimes with views of the hills and sea beyond.

"Searching out Bermuda's connections with these artists is like a big detective hunt,'' said Mrs. Elise Outerbridge, who is happily engaged on the chase. "On his first visit here, Hartley was with Charles Demuth, staying at the St. George Hotel and they met up with the French artist Albert Gleizes. We have examples of both of these artists' work in the Masterworks collection.

"We also know that Marsden Hartley came back to Bermuda in 1935 and stayed with a Mr. Elmo Petty, a fisherman who lived somewhere on the North Shore.

Apparently, they went out fishing together. We would love to know if anyone can throw any more light on that!'' Mrs. Outerbridge is also intrigued by the fact that Hartley was a friend of playwright Eugene O'Neill, who was living at Spithead on Harbour Road, during the time Hartley was in Bermuda and feels that they, too, must have spent time together on the Island.

Hartley's visit, on the latter occasion, was to recuperate after suffering illness and depression and he produced a series of what he called flower and fish "fancies''.

Mr. Butterfield said it has been decided to keep the Hartley work at Masterworks' Front Street location "for the moment'' because their current exhibition at the National Gallery is the Works on Paper show "and this is an oil painting.'' ON LOAN TO MASTERWORKS -- This still life, painted in Bermuda by leading American artist Marsden Hartley, has been loaned by its owner to the Masterworks Foundation.