The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 29, 2025

Sand Dunes, Wallace Head, Maine

1915
(American, 1870–1953)
America
Watercolor over graphite on thick wove paper
Sheet: 41.8 x 49.2 cm (16 7/16 x 19 3/8 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1946.256
© Estate of John Marin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Catalogue raisonné: Reich 15.35
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

John Marin worked closely with the important dealer and photographer Alfred Stieglitz, who championed his work around the time this drawing was made.

Description

John Marin worked prolifically in watercolor, producing almost 2500 works in the medium during his long career. He was known for fragmented landscapes that convey a sense of energy and movement. An avid outdoorsman, Marin frequently depicted Maine, which he regularly visited beginning during the summer of 1914. This drawing is one of dozens that Marin made during 1915 while staying in Small Point. The composition veers toward abstraction, with areas of the paper left unpainted, layers of wash outlining dunes in the foreground, and schematically-rendered fir trees along the horizon. Marin worked creatively with watercolor, suggesting rough texture with agitated brush strokes and scribbled marks, translating his experience of nature to the viewer.
  • after 1915-1945
    (An American Place, New York, NY, sold to Mr. Zirinsky)
    1945-by 1946
    Mr. Zirinsky
    ?-1946
    (James N. Rosenberg, White Plains, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
    1946-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 According to CMA files, an old label from An American Place gallery, now lost, was inscribed in Stieglitz's hand: "Acquired by Mr. Zirinsky 12/10/45"
  • Kelly, Grace V. "Superb Marin Water Color Acquired by Museum of Art." Cleveland Plain Dealer (July 25, 1948): 22-D. Mentioned: p. 22-D
    New Accessions USA. Exh. Cat. Colorado Springs: Colorado Fine Arts Center, 1948. Mentioned: no. 14 archive.org
    Reich, Sheldon. John Marin: Catalogue Raisonné. 2 Vols. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1970. Mentioned and reproduced: II: p. 409, no. 15.35
    DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. Mentioned: p, 8, pp. 234-235, 296-297; Reproduced: p. 235
  • Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 11, 2022-January 8, 2023).
    Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
    Directions in Drawing: 1750-1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 2-August 4, 1991).
    Water Colors from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 23-September 16, 1973).
    Possibly included in the one-man exhibition of Marin's work held at the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession (known as 291), New York (January 18 -February 12, 1916. Cannot be confirmed since no checklist or catalogue exists.
    Water Color. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 6-August 27, 1962).
    Water Color Paintings. American Federation of Arts Museum Series Program of Exhibitions (ten venues; 1949 - 1950).
    New Accessions U.S.A.. Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, CO (organizer) (June 27-September 12, 1948).
  • {{cite web|title=Sand Dunes, Wallace Head, Maine|url=false|author=John Marin|year=1915|access-date=29 April 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1946.256