Sustained Comedy - Marsden Hartley Art Print / Canvas

$30USD
  • Forget cheap copies or printable posters
  • Archival grade fine art paper and canvas
  • Giclée printing stays vibrant up to 100 years
  • FSC® paper & wood + non-toxic pigment inks

Size
Art Print or Canvas?

White borders = 5% of shortest side

Matboards = 2" / 5cm

Framed canvas gaps = 3/8" / 1cm

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About this Artwork

Marsden Hartley's Sustained Comedy opens on a stare two arrows cannot close. Painted in oil in Hartley's late Maine years, this self-portrait fixes its own eyes at the center of an ordeal: white-fletched shafts cross the skull at eye level, entering one temple and exiting the other, and the pupils hold their ground beneath rose-toned face paint pulled taut across the brow. A second, diagonal arrow splits a white triangle stamped above the hairline, the forehead claimed. Blond hair crests against dark navy ground, a maroon zigzag band cracking the canvas edge like loosed current.

Hartley built this American Modernist emblem-painting from years among Nova Scotia fishermen and Maine's working coast, where tattooed skin carried a folk grammar of loss. The pierced red heart at his throat answers the arrows above it, two wounds trading places on one painted body. Sustained Comedy asks no pardon for its open mouth, its fixed gaze; it holds both, straight through grey-white triangular peaks banked at his collar like storm cloud over a harbor he could not stop watching.

Origin Story

Marsden Hartley (1877–1943) was the American Modernist who painted grief and granite with equal force. Born Edmund Hartley in Lewiston, Maine, he studied under William Merritt Chase and found a champion in Alfred Stieglitz, debuting at the 291 gallery in 1909. In Paris he absorbed Cézanne and Picasso; in Berlin, alongside Kandinsky and Franz Marc, he forged his War Motif abstractions—Portrait of a German Officer (1914) mourning his beloved Karl von Freyburg in flags, medals, and coded numbers.

A restless wanderer through New Mexico, Provence, Mexico, and Nova Scotia, Hartley returned home in 1937 to become "the painter of Maine." His Mount Katahdin canvases and rugged fishermen fused mysticism with modernism, turning loss into monumental American landscape.

Size
Art Print or Canvas?
Product information

Produced on Demand

Your new treasure gets produced after you purchase at print labs across the USA, UK, EU & AUS. Significantly minimising landfill waste by only making things people actually want.

Average Production Time

After you purchase, expect your new treasure to be produced, quality checked, packed with care and handed over to trusted shipping carriers within 72-96 hours on average.

Powered by Prodigi

I work with Prodigi to create all the products on my store. Their international network of print labs:

1. Ensure your new treasure's made as close to you as possible. Reducing delivery times and carbon emissions from the print lab to your front door.

2. Adhere to anti child labour and anti forced labour regulations. Providing safe and generous working environments for all staff.

3. Provide traceability for core raw materials from suppliers. 

4. Screen suppliers for compliance with fair labor and sustainability standards.

Cost

Free shipping to Continental United States, Canada, UK, EU, Australia, New Zealand & more: see full list here.

Production + Delivery =

USA: 4-9 days • Canada: 5-12 days • UK: 4-9 days • EU: 5-10 days • AUS: 4-9 days • NZ: 5-12 days • Rest of the world: 3-4 weeks

Every package tracked from A to B to You.

Sent carbon neutral at no extra charge.

Peace of mind your money's being kind.

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30 Day Returns

1. You're welcome to open a return / exchange request within 30 days of your order's delivery. All items for return must be delivered back in their original condition, with their original packaging included.

2. No guarantees your return will be approved if you send items back before the approval of your return request.

3. No returns, refunds or exchanges on discounted or sale items.

Read the step-by-step returns process.

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Art Your Way

Archival grade fine art prints, classic chevron cut wooden frames, or sleek float framed canvases for a tactile dimension.

Forget cheap reproductions and printable posters: warm white, archival-grade, 200gsm matte art paper.

True-to-life colors and tones without glare or distortion: vivid, non-toxic pigment inks honor your art and the planet.

Black: Suits any style, anywhere, all the time. White: Helps art shine brighter. Natural: Infuses warmth wherever it goes.

Chevron cut for a timeless statement. Ultra-clear perspex glaze. 2" / 5cm archival-grade matboard.

Artist-grade cotton canvas, finely textured for depth and precision.

Hand-stretched and natural white to capture light/color with striking clarity.

Chic floating frame for sleek, gallery-worthy effect.

Fine Art Prints

True-to-life colors for a hundred years of daydreams

Ships in 2-4 days
Velvety matte art paper
Heavyweight 200gsm fine art paper. Smooth, clean finish. Naturally white tone. Acid-free to resist yellowing and deterioration.
Classic wood frames
Chevron-cut frame made from solid FSC®-certified sustainable wood. Ultra-clear Perspex glazing. Delivered ready to hang.
Archival-grade matboards
All framed art prints include a 2" / 5 cm matboard — crisp white and acid-free, just like you see in museums and galleries.

Giclée Printing

A Century of Color

Forget 4 color CMYK. Every treasure you find here is giclée printed — layering up to 12 colors alive with deeper shadows, richer highlights and multidimensional contrasts. Further enriched by a pro-lab process that helps your art stay bold & breathtaking for up to 100 years with non-toxic, archival-grade inks.

Peecho print shop employee inspecting artwork
Prodigi framed print production in progress
Print lab with multiple workstations where people are engaged in hands-on art print projects
Framing a canvas
worker stretching art print
Picture framer using a framing tool.
Peecho print shop employee inspecting artwork
Prodigi framed print production in progress
Print lab with multiple workstations where people are engaged in hands-on art print projects
Framing a canvas
worker stretching art print
Picture framer using a framing tool.

Framed Canvas

Alive with multidimensional shadows, highlights and contrasts

Ships in 2-4 days
Artist-grade cotton canvas
38mm cotton canvas, ideal for photography, reproductions and impactful graphics. Luxurious, matte surface delivers depth and detail with outstanding clarity.
Premium float frames
The thin frame sits slightly away from the edge of the canvas, creating an elegant, gallery-worthy floating border.
Care in every detail
Canvas stretched over FSC®-certified, knot-free European pine. Milled with a curved profile to prevent pressure marks and surface cracks.

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