Morton Bartlett, 1909-1992, was a private man whose passion for creation became public only after his death. Born in Chicago, and adopted into a Boston Brahmin family he was their only child. Educated at Andover and Harvard, he left two years before graduating with the class of 1932.
Various jobs followed, including gas station manager and printer’s broker, while he devoted himself to creating a fantasy family of perfectly sculpted children. Meticulously dressed and posed, Bartlett photographed them in staged scenarios at once quotidian and dramatic, creating a visual fiction of childhood: a young girl curled up comfortably reading, dancing at a ballet class or at the beach.
Discovered in their entirety after the distribution of his estate in 1993, Morton Bartlett’s work has since received international acclaim. The collection is now mainly in private and major public collections, including The Metropolitan Museum and The Folk Art Museum, among many others. Bartlett’s work has been shown in Europe at a solo show in 2012 at The Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin which then continued on to Art Brut Musee, Lausanne, Switzerland. The sculptures and photographs have also been featured at The Venice Biennale, Italy and The Hayward Gallery, London.
Two series of posthumous archival limited editions of 12 images have been produced, each limited to 10 prints. In two sizes they comprise Morton Bartlett’s most desirable and iconic images.
To inquire about purchasing Morton Bartlett artworks, visit marion-harris.com.
