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KvF VIII (Hartley Elegy)

1989–94

Images

KvF VIII (Hartley Elegy), an 85 by 85 inch diamond shaped painting with a black ground. The other colors used in the painting are red, yellow, and white. In the center of the canvas is a large circle with a red ring containing text painted in yellow stenciled letters. The text in the top half of the ring reads "Karl von Freyburg," and in the lower half "Marsden Hartley." Within the circle are stylized motifs of German World War I pageantry and references to von Freyburg. These include a black iron cross in a yellow outlined red circle within a black triangle with a yellow outline, the yellow number 2 on a black ground, a black number 4 on a yellow ground, and a black number 8 on a red ground. Black and white wavy lines are found both within the circle and to the left and right of the circle.

KvF VIII (Hartley Elegy)

1989–94

Oil on canvas

85 × 85 in. (215.9 × 215.9 cm), diamond

 

Photo: Christopher Campbell; Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

 

German Iron Cross medal from 1914, the year of Karl von Freyburg’s death

German Iron Cross medal from 1914, the year of Karl von Freyburg’s death

Description

Robert Indiana’s Hartley Elegies (1989–94) is a series of 18 paintings inspired by Marsden Hartley’s War Motif series, which Hartley executed as a tribute to the young German soldier Karl von Freyburg, who died during World War I and with whom Hartley had a deep friendship. Indiana employed Hartley’s stylized visual language throughout the Elegies, while reinvesting them with additional content and meaning.

KvF VIII is one of six diamond shaped canvases in the series. Its red, yellow, and black German flag inspired color scheme links the work to KvF III, however its design is more closely related to KvF II. In both KvF VIII and KvF II Indiana emphasized the relationship between Karl von Freyburg and Marsden Hartley by incorporating their names into a ring surrounding the central circle. The numeral 24 appears within the circle, below the Iron Cross, the medal von Freyburg received just prior to his death at the age of 24.