The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 4, 2022

Sand Dunes, Wallace Head, Maine

1915

John Marin

(American, 1870-1953)

America, 20th century

Watercolor over graphite on thick wove paper

Support: Cream(1) 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

Fun Fact

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.

Inscriptions

Inscription

signed, lower left in graphite: Marin 15; verso, probably by the artist, center, in graphite: Sand Dunes / Wallace Head / maine; upper right, in graphite: 305 [circled]; lower left, in graphite: a8; lower left, in graphite s.b.c. / 2 [circled]; lower right, in graphite: $850

Provenance
after 1915-1945
(An American Place, New York, NY, sold to Mr. Zirinsky)
1945-by 1946
Mr. Zirinsky 1
?-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"
Citations
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
Exhibition history

Water Color Paintings. American Federation of Arts Museum Series Program of Exhibitions (ten venues; 1949 - 1950).

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.

New Accessions U.S.A.. Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, CO (organizer) (June 27-September 12, 1948).

Water Color. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 6-August 27, 1962).

Water Colors from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art (July 23-September 16, 1973).

Directions in Drawing: 1750-1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 2-August 4, 1991).

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).

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