White Cod

In White Cod, the American modernist Marsden Hartley transformed the traditional allegorical function of still life as a memento mori, a reminder that all living things must die, into a deeply personal memorial. The two dead cod most likely allude to the 1936 drowning of Alton and Donald Mason, sons of a Nova Scotia fishing family with whom he lived during the summers of 1935 and 1936. Hartley linked the deaths of his beloved friends to Christ’s martyrdom through the traditional Christian symbolism of the fish. His expressive brushwork and somber palette also enhance the emotional intensity of this painting.