Double Reclining Female Figures–Bertram Hartman–Conte
and Pastel Drawing–20th
Century-NYC Artist-Artist Estate
About the Artist:
C. Bertram Hartman (1882–1960) was a Kansas-born, New York–based painter who
was highly recognized for his oil and watercolor landscape and portrait works.
He was trained at the Art Institute of Chicago and later at the Royal Academy
in Munich. Hartman illustrated for various magazines and was commissioned to
paint murals and works during the Great Depression under the Works Progress
Administration.
Hartman was a member of the American Watercolor Society,
the Mural Painters of America, the American Society of Painters, Sculptors and
Graphic Artists, and the Chicago Society of Artists. His works were included in
major exhibitions, including the First Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary
American Sculpture, Watercolors and Prints at the Whitney Museum in 1933
and the Pan-Pacific Exposition of 1915. Many of his works are held in
major museum collections, including the Whitney Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, and
the Spencer Museum of Art.
About this work:
Bertram Hartman and his wife Augusta (also known as
Gusta, 1885–1960) spent decades in New York City, where he produced numerous
finished works and studies in oil, watercolor, pastel, and charcoal. This conté
and pastel drawing of two reclining female nude comes from the artist’s estate
and bears the artist’s pencil signature, and stamp of the Castellane Gallery.
The drawing is in fair condition. The upper right corner has a small tear. The
edges and corners show wear and handling marks. The paper has minor toning. The
verso is lightly soiled.