Enticed by the harsh and lonely landscape of Dogtown, Massachusetts, Marsden Hartley described this long-abandoned settlement from the late 1600s as a cross between Easter Island and Stonehenge. A leading practitioner of American modernism, Hartley created some of the most exceptionally powerful modernist expressions by any American artist. He was introduced to photographer and modern art promoter Alfred Stieglitz in 1909—a meeting that would change his life and place him firmly within progressive art circles of the time.