Landscape

Artist John Marin (American, 1870 - 1953)

Date1915

MediumTransparent watercolor wash over pencil sketch on thick, cream (3) colored, rough (2) textured, mould made, rag wove paper.

DimensionsOverall: 16 1/8 x 19 3/8in. (41 x 49.2cm)

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Munson and Mr. and Mrs. Watson Lowery

Terms

20th Century

Object number82.45

Description

On View

Not on view

Collections

Watercolor and Gouache

CopyrightPresumed copyright: the artist or the artist's representative/heir(s).

Label TextMuseum from Home, November 10, 2020 John Marin (American, 1870-1953), Landscape, 1915, watercolor on paper, 16 x 19 ½ in., Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Munson and Mr. and Mrs. Watson Lowery, 82.45 John Marin lived in Cliffside Park, NJ, and spent summers in Maine from 1914 through the rest of his life (with very few exceptions). This landscape watercolor in the Museum’s collection was painted during Marin’s second season in Maine, at Small Point, about an hour along the shore northeast of Portland. At this moment in his artistic career, Marin was steeped in the most modern art practices surging into existence in the new 20th century. He had lived in Paris and traveled around Western Europe from 1905-09, and again in 1910-11, and his artwork was exhibited at Alfred Stieglitz’s Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession, more popularly known as 291. Before 1913, Stieglitz was virtually the only person in the United States to show the most experimental modern art from Europe and in America. Marin developed a personal cubistic style that conveyed the spirit of dynamism he experienced when he was immersed in New York City or in a boat on the water off the coast of Maine. Although his imagery is very often quite abstract, Marin always grounded his compositions in scenes he experienced firsthand. Landscape, 1915, is a late-season watercolor of two trees in bright autumnal color. Here we find the artist in a lyrical mood. Marin’s impulse toward creating a sense of movement in nature by using strong diagonal lines or fractured forms is held in check. The day must have been calm and peaceful. The trees are somewhat stylized, but they stand upright with their seasonal foliage on glorious display.