Emma Hartvig has created eleven solo exhibitions, as well as a series of interpretative sculptures for the National Endowment for the Arts, concentrating on subjects as diverse as nationality, age and profession. Her approach is unique in its combining of photographic imagery with textual representation, centering on women’s bodies as canvases. The result is a visual celebration of identity and memory, rooted in the artist’s belief that beauty lies in the beat of our own feet. Her artwork often focuses on female features, such as breasts, buttocks and thighs, and these are drawn out in geometric forms, outlined in bright foregrounds, presented against a background of shimmering lights, or occasionally shown alone. Her compositions are often complex multi-tiered structures, often occurring in groups of unrelated objects.
Height: A Matrimony. Never one to ignore convention, Emma Hartvig applies the conventions of the height/sex distinction to the height/nationality dichotomy in her paintings. Tall and slim, the figures in this series of individual paintings, sometimes standing close together, sometimes separated by an object, are presented as if they are standing side-by-side, in harmony and balance. In one series, entitled Woman and Child, the women resemble the ancient Greek sculptures of Peisistratus and Cupid. In another entitled Mother and Child, the women resemble the statues of the gods, and in yet another Man and Woman, a couple seated and facing each other. Each represents the divine feminine and the mortal masculine, in balance and equality.
Dress: A Matrimony. The nubility of a woman’s dress is depicted in several of Emma’s works, most notably in Woman and Child. In this series of paintings, the nubility of the skirt is balanced by the body’s elongated shape, so that the subject appears to be standing taller than she actually is. In The Artist’s Wife, Woman’s dress is bare on the knees, whereas the long skirts of the maidens are intricately laced.
The Missing Girl, Paintings, ca. 1869 1870, Engraved on Metal, Oil on Canvas, Emma Hartvig | artist’s | painting | woman} The Missing Girl has been missing from life for many generations. But its ghost still resides in the hearts and minds of those who have loved it. The Missing Girl, Paintings, by Emma Hartvig, was displayed at the National Art Gallery in Washington, D.C. in 2021 and received honorable mention for excellence in non-fiction visual arts. This beautiful painting exemplifies the beauty and delicacy of art – the transcendence of a simple human experience into something magnificent. The Missing Girl, Paintings, by Emma Hartvig, needs to be seen to be appreciated.