AFA 18th Anniversary

This graphite study may surprise viewers familiar with Marin’s mature work–the young artist captured the urban waterfront in unexpected detail. This drawing was made before the 1905 journey to Europe that brought about Marin’s shift from direct realism to abstraction from nature. But throughout his career, place was vital to Marin. Starting when he was a teenager and for the rest of his career, his works used line, structure, and color to catch the spirit of locations he knew well. Pine Street shows the waterfront scene with precision, including the sign identifying the exact pier shown. Research at the South Street Seaport Museum enabled catalogue co-author Josephine White Rodgers to discover where that pier was on the East River. Adjacent to the financial district, these piers dated back to the early seventeenth century. The area became a nexus of commerce that supported the growth of New York City. The background of this striking early drawing includes what may be Marin’s earliest rendering of the Brooklyn Bridge. The great bridge became a modernist icon in his mature work. Antiques & Fine Art 121 2018 John Marin (1870–1953), Edgewater on Hudson, New Jersey, 1892. Watercolor with graphite on textured watercolor paper, 6¾ x 10 inches. Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection; Gift of Norma B. Marin (2013.018.151). John Marin (1870–1953), Pine Street, New York, 1895–1905, Graphite on textured watercolor paper, 9 x 12 inches. Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection; Gift of Norma B. Marin (2013.018.246). Architectural subjects were always favorites for Marin. His mature modernist vision was rooted in early drawings and watercolors like this one of places near his home. During Marin’s years apprenticing with architectural firms, he filled sketchbooks with drawings and watercolors of homes, barns, and other buildings. His watercolors like this were softly atmospheric, influenced by the expatriate American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903). Very few of these early watercolors have been published or exhibited.