AFA 18th Anniversary

2018 Antiques & Fine Art 125 John Marin (1870–1953), Blue Shark, 1922. Watercolor and charcoal on textured watercolor paper, 12⅛ x 16⅛ inches. Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection; Gift of Norma B. Marin (2013.018.085). John Marin isn’t well known as an animal artist, but, in fact, creatures occur often in his work. From working horses in the streets of New York and Paris to performing elephants at the circus, it is clear the artist was fascinated by a variety of fauna. This striking shark is one of the most unusual of his animal images. Presumably he made the little watercolor in Maine, where he spent his summers on the coast. Perhaps he saw the handsome creature hanging by a dock as a trophy, or washed up on the beach. In the 1890s, Marin had done something similar to create a watercolor of a yellow perch preserved in a sketchbook now at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Marin was always sympathetic to animals. Before his 1905 journey to Europe, drawings in the Arts Center’s Collection reveal that he spent a lot of time at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan gazing through the bars into the cages of lions and bears.