Much has been written about the eclectic Carl Sadakichi Hartmann, (1867-1944) perhaps best remembered today for his voluminous critical writing on the emerging field of art photography from the late 1890’s under the ascent of the American Photo-Secession movement spearheaded by Alfred Stieglitz and continuing through WWI.

But he was much more, a man whose personality gave him the honorary title “King of the Bohemians”  in Greenwich Village  by press agent Guido Bruno in the 1910’s. He wrote about and published extensively on art, and even appeared in a minor role as the court magician in The Thief of Baghdad, a 1924 silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks. Reported to be an accomplished pickpocket in addition to his well-known predilection to consume alcohol, his role as larger than life bohemian character made him the willing subject matter in many photographs taken by the likes of Edward Steichen, Gertrude Kasebier and Stieglitz himself, among many others.  Hartmann had talent himself in the plastic arts as a painter, a discipline he worked at for many years but apparently knew of his own limits:

“He recognized early that he lacked the talent to achieve fame as an artist, but throughout his life he painted and did pastels (almost 350 works in this medium), and his first exhibition of pastels was held in 1894. His pastels were often strikingly interesting, enough so that he was exhibited with Glackens, Fuhr, Perrine, and Lawrence at the Allen Gallery in 1900.” (1.)

Credited with writing some of the earliest English language haiku, Hartmann’s poetry and writing were greatly influenced by none other than Walt Whitman, a personal hero he sought out shortly after first arriving in America from Germany in 1882.

In the spirit of his painting The Wreck, a poem by him published in Elbert Hubbard’s The Fra seems appropriate given the subject matter of a shipwreck in this windswept marine study:

SEA NOCTURNE
By Sadakichi Hartmann

Upon the silent sea-swept strand
The dreams of night fall soft and gray
The waves fade on the jeweled sand,
Like some lost hope of yesterday.

The dreams of night fall soft and gray
Upon the Summer-colored seas;
Like some lost hope of yesterday,
The sea-mew’s call is on the breeze.

Upon the Summer-colored seas,
Sails gleam and glimmer ghostly white;
The sea-mew’s call is on the breeze,
Lost in the monotone of night.

Sails gleam and glimmer ghostly white;
They come and slowly drift away,
Lost in the monotone of night,
The visions of a Summer day.

They shift and slowly drift away,
Like lover’s lays that wax and wane,
The visions of a Summer day,
The dreams we ne’er will dream again.

Like lover’s lays that wax and wane,
The star-dawn shifts from sail to sail;
Like dreams we ne’er will dream again,
The sea-mews follow on their trail.

The star-dawn shifts from sail to sail,
As they drift to the dim unknown;
The sea-mews follow on their trail,
In quest of some dreamland zone.

In quest of some far dreamland zone,
Of some far silent sea-swept strand,
They are lost in the dim unknown,
Where waves fade on jeweled sand,
And dreams of night fall soft and gray,
Like some lost hope of yesterday.

(from The Fra: Exponent of the American Philosophy– July, 1912, p. 12A)

A Contemporary American Painter and Poet

As late as 1919, Hartmann was described as a “Contemporary American Painter and poet” in an illustrated catalogue of “valuable paintings” placed at auction at The Anderson Galleries of New York City. (2.)

A working list gleaned from the internet of several known paintings by Hartmann follow, with the majority of his surviving works held as part of the larger Sadakichi Hartmann papers archive at Riverside Libraries at the University of California in the United States.

1890’s? : A Buddha in the Sky and A Japanese Print: abstract pastel landscape paintings, possibly done around the same time he wrote the dramatic play: Buddha (Written 1891-1895) A Drama in Twelve Scenes published in 1897. Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.  control numbers: IAP 08750562 & IAP 08750563 respectively.
1893: Garret-Splendor: symbolist interior study of woman standing near garret skylight at night. ref: Negative #478 from Sadakichi Hartmann catalogue: Riverside Libraries at the University of California.
ND: The Acrobat and the Magician: symbolist study of airborne pink nude woman with figure of magician in background: Negative #479 from Sadakichi Hartmann catalogue: Riverside Libraries at the University of California.
ND: The Redheaded Woman: portrait of woman with red hair and heavy eyeliner: Negative #480 from Sadakichi Hartmann catalogue: Riverside Libraries at the University of California.

1895: Symbolist landscape: Midnight Stroll: “nighttime winter scene shows figure in black with cane walking along rail fence on snow covered ground. House with yellow lit window and snow covered roof.” Gouache on paper: Lot 1038: James D. Julia Inc. Fairfield, ME: Jan. 9, 2004: Private collection

1908: Symbolist landscape: Lovers on Moonlight Lake: Gouache on paper. Lot 2312: Dargate Auction Galleries, Pittsburgh, PA, Oct. 22, 2006: Private collection

ND: Symbolist/Impressionist landscape: Falling Leaves: Pastel on paper: collection:  The Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY:  Gift of the Baker/Pisano Collection.  2001.9.130

1918: Impressionist landscape: The Barren Hills of California: Oil on Board. Lot 0612-0157: O’Gallerie (auctioneers) Portland, OR: June 4, 2012: Private collection

ND: but 1895-1915? Symbolist marine study: The Wreck: Gouache on paper: signed at lower right corner recto of artwork with SH monogram; signed on verso of artwork: in graphite: The Wreck  Sadakichi Hartmann; and at upper right corner:  12.  Alexander Historical Auctions, Chesapeake City, MD: May 12, 2015: Ex-collection label on verso of frame matting: white, hand-typed label for Robert Schoelkopf Gallery (New York City) with details and ink inscription: 69813 (stock #?) : collection: PhotoSeed Archive

1. excerpt: Sadakichi Hartmann’s Life and Career By George Knox. From the Introduction of The Life and Times of Sadakichi Hartmann, 1867-1944. An Exhibition Presented and Co-sponsored by the University Library and the Riverside Press-Enterprise Co. at the University of California, Riverside, May 1 to May 31, 1970.
2. Two watercolors by Hartmann were sold at the auction held November 21, 1919. Catalogue #’s 14 & 15. Spring Landscape and Winter Landscape, both formerly owned by the George S. Hellman Collection.