Label Text
Throughout his long career, John Marin was captivated by the panoramic sweep and varied rhythms of New York City. He was raised in Weehawken and later settled in Cliffside, two New Jersey communities directly across the Hudson from Manhattan Island. Later, after his art training and extensive travels in Europe, Marin began painting cityscapes of New York. The influence of Cubism is clear in Mid-Manhattan No.1, as well as Marin’s interest in architecture. The strong lines and blurred colors of the work make specific structures hard to define, particularly in the lower half of the work, but the overall sense of the work is one of sound, movement, and the bustling activity of city life.
The city never lost its fascination and throughout his life Marin returned to its panoramic sweep and varied rhythms. He saw it as a kind of bustling paradise and as one of the formative influences in his life. First in his watercolors and later in his oils, he observed it from many points of view and created vivid pictorial equivalents for the complex interrelation of its harsh angles, the impact of light on surfaces of glass and stone, the spatial tensions and the myriad contrasts of movement. Source: John Marin in Retrospect exhibition, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., March 2 - April 15, 1962
Exhibition History"City of Ambition: Artists & New York, 1900 - 1960," Whitney Museum of Art, New York, 1996
"Selections and Transformations: The Art of John Marin," organized by Deborah F. Shepherd, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Jan 28 - Apr. 15, 1990
"Selected Works from the Des Moines Art Center's Permanent Collection," organized by the Waterloo Municipal Galleries, sponsored by the National Bank of Waterloo, Oct. 24 - Nov. 20, 1983; (circulated to: Charles H. MacNider Museum, Mason City, Jan. 15 - Feb. 26, 1984; Muscatine Art Center, Apr. 1 - May 13, 1984; Cedar Rapids Art Center, July 15 - Aug. 26, 1984)
"Highlights from Three Collections: The Bohen, Coffin and Cowles Collections," Des Moines Art Center, July 8 - Sept. 11, 1983
"America Between the Wars," San Jose Museum of Art, CA, Oct. 19 - Nov. 27, 1976
"John Marin: 1870 - 1953," Los Angeles County Museum of Art, July 7 - Aug. 30, 1970; (circulated to: M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, Sept. 20 - Nov. 7, 1970; Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego, Calif., Nov. 28, 1970 - Jan. 3, 1971; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Feb. 18 - Mar. 31, 1971; National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C., Apr. 23 - June 6, 1971)
"John Marin: Oils, Watercolors and Drawings which Relate to His Etchings," Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA, Jan. 17 - Mar. 17, 1969
"20th Century Art from Iowa Collections," Scheaffer Gallery, Grinnell College, Mar. 28 - Apr. 20, 1966
"John Marin," America House, Berlin, Germany, Sept. 15 - Oct. 13, 1962; (circulated to: America House, Hamburg, Germany, Oct. 26 - Nov. 21, 1962)
"John Marin in Retrospect," Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Mar. 3 - Apr. 15, 1962; (circulated to: Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, N.H., May 9 - June 24, 1962)
"6 Decades of American Painting of the 20th Century," Des Moines Art Center, Feb. 10 - Mar. 12, 1961
"35th Anniversary Show," Downtown Gallery, New York, Oct. 1960
"John Marin," Studio House, Washington, D.C., Feb. 3 - 21, 1937
"John Marin: Watercolors, Oil Paintings, Etchings," Museum of Modern Art, New York, Fall 1936
"John Marin," An American Place, New York, Jan. 1933
Published ReferencesDMAC Bulletin, May 1961, ill.
"The Writings of John Marin," compiled by Dorothy Norman, ART NEWS, XLVIII, Oct. 1949, ill. p.43
DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. pp.146 & 147, b/w ill. pl.85, p.148
Sheldon Reich, JOHN MARIN, A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS AND CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ, University of Arizona Press, Tuscon, 1970, Part II ill. pl.32.22, p.644
Elanor Lanahan, ed., ZELDA, AN ILLUSTRATED LIFE: THE PRIVATE WORLD OF ZELDA FITZGERALD, Harry N. Abrams, N. Y., 1996, p.81
DES MOINES SUNDAY REGISTER MAGAZINE SECTION, Mar. 25, 1962, color ill. p.8
Abraham A. Davidson, "John Marin: Dynamism Codified," ARTFORUM, Apr. 1971, p.37, color ill. p.38
THE NATHAN EMORY COFFIN COLLECTION, a portfolio of fifty selections from the collection, published by the Des Moines Art Center to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Nathan Emory Coffin, 1981, color ill.
"City of Ambition: Artists and New York, 1900 - 1960," Whitney Museum of American Art, N. Y., 1996, exh. cat. color ill. p.63
AN UNCOMMON VISION: THE DES MOINES ART CENTER, Des Moines Art Center, 1998, ref. p.33
The city never lost its fascination and throughout his life Marin returned to its panoramic sweep and varied rhythms. He saw it as a kind of bustling paradise and as one of the formative influences in his life. First in his watercolors and later in his oils, he observed it from many points of view and created vivid pictorial equivalents for the complex interrelation of its harsh angles, the impact of light on surfaces of glass and stone, the spatial tensions and the myriad contrasts of movement. Source: John Marin in Retrospect exhibition, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., March 2 - April 15, 1962
Exhibition History"City of Ambition: Artists & New York, 1900 - 1960," Whitney Museum of Art, New York, 1996
"Selections and Transformations: The Art of John Marin," organized by Deborah F. Shepherd, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Jan 28 - Apr. 15, 1990
"Selected Works from the Des Moines Art Center's Permanent Collection," organized by the Waterloo Municipal Galleries, sponsored by the National Bank of Waterloo, Oct. 24 - Nov. 20, 1983; (circulated to: Charles H. MacNider Museum, Mason City, Jan. 15 - Feb. 26, 1984; Muscatine Art Center, Apr. 1 - May 13, 1984; Cedar Rapids Art Center, July 15 - Aug. 26, 1984)
"Highlights from Three Collections: The Bohen, Coffin and Cowles Collections," Des Moines Art Center, July 8 - Sept. 11, 1983
"America Between the Wars," San Jose Museum of Art, CA, Oct. 19 - Nov. 27, 1976
"John Marin: 1870 - 1953," Los Angeles County Museum of Art, July 7 - Aug. 30, 1970; (circulated to: M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, Sept. 20 - Nov. 7, 1970; Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego, Calif., Nov. 28, 1970 - Jan. 3, 1971; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Feb. 18 - Mar. 31, 1971; National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C., Apr. 23 - June 6, 1971)
"John Marin: Oils, Watercolors and Drawings which Relate to His Etchings," Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA, Jan. 17 - Mar. 17, 1969
"20th Century Art from Iowa Collections," Scheaffer Gallery, Grinnell College, Mar. 28 - Apr. 20, 1966
"John Marin," America House, Berlin, Germany, Sept. 15 - Oct. 13, 1962; (circulated to: America House, Hamburg, Germany, Oct. 26 - Nov. 21, 1962)
"John Marin in Retrospect," Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Mar. 3 - Apr. 15, 1962; (circulated to: Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, N.H., May 9 - June 24, 1962)
"6 Decades of American Painting of the 20th Century," Des Moines Art Center, Feb. 10 - Mar. 12, 1961
"35th Anniversary Show," Downtown Gallery, New York, Oct. 1960
"John Marin," Studio House, Washington, D.C., Feb. 3 - 21, 1937
"John Marin: Watercolors, Oil Paintings, Etchings," Museum of Modern Art, New York, Fall 1936
"John Marin," An American Place, New York, Jan. 1933
Published ReferencesDMAC Bulletin, May 1961, ill.
"The Writings of John Marin," compiled by Dorothy Norman, ART NEWS, XLVIII, Oct. 1949, ill. p.43
DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. pp.146 & 147, b/w ill. pl.85, p.148
Sheldon Reich, JOHN MARIN, A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS AND CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ, University of Arizona Press, Tuscon, 1970, Part II ill. pl.32.22, p.644
Elanor Lanahan, ed., ZELDA, AN ILLUSTRATED LIFE: THE PRIVATE WORLD OF ZELDA FITZGERALD, Harry N. Abrams, N. Y., 1996, p.81
DES MOINES SUNDAY REGISTER MAGAZINE SECTION, Mar. 25, 1962, color ill. p.8
Abraham A. Davidson, "John Marin: Dynamism Codified," ARTFORUM, Apr. 1971, p.37, color ill. p.38
THE NATHAN EMORY COFFIN COLLECTION, a portfolio of fifty selections from the collection, published by the Des Moines Art Center to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Nathan Emory Coffin, 1981, color ill.
"City of Ambition: Artists and New York, 1900 - 1960," Whitney Museum of American Art, N. Y., 1996, exh. cat. color ill. p.63
AN UNCOMMON VISION: THE DES MOINES ART CENTER, Des Moines Art Center, 1998, ref. p.33
DimensionsFrame: 32 3/4 × 26 7/8 × 1 3/8 in. (83.2 × 68.3 × 3.5 cm)
Image (visible): 27 3/4 × 21 3/4 in. (70.5 × 55.2 cm)
Image (visible): 27 3/4 × 21 3/4 in. (70.5 × 55.2 cm)
Accession Number 1961.29
Classificationspainting
CopyrightARS
SignedMarin 32 (l,r oil paint)
Catalogue raisonnéJOHN MARIN, A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS AND CATALOGUE RAISONNE, by Sheldon Reich, pub. by University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1970, Part II, illus. pl. 32.22, p. 644.
ProvenanceArtist. Downtown Gallery, N. Y. [by 1960]; Des Moines Art Center [purchased from previous, 1961]
Collections
