The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

On Morse Mountain, No. 6, Maine

On Morse Mountain, No. 6, Maine

1928
(American, 1870–1953)
Image and Sheet: 42.3 x 56.5 cm (16 5/8 x 22 1/4 in.)
© Estate of John Marin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

John Marin made this watercolor during one of the last summers he would spend in Maine, at a time when he called most of the watercolors he executed "Movements in Paint."

Description

One of America's most important watercolor practitioners, John Marin spent every summer in Maine from 1914 through 1928, and the state's coastline became a central focus of his work. By the late 1920s, when this work was made, he was experimenting with bold black elements in his compositions and painted frames or borders. On Morse Mountain, No. 6, Maine shows Marin using dry charcoal to create areas of shocking black over which he layered inky black wash. The technique has the effect of framing the image and leading the eye toward the center. With its strikingly different character from other works made in Maine in 1914 (see 2020.134, 2020.136, 2020.137, 2020.138, 2020.139), the work shows how John Marin repeatedly challenged himself as well as the medium of watercolor with improvisations in color, paint handling, perspective, and movement.
  • Estate of the Artist
    Mr. and Mrs. John C. Marin, Jr., New York, NY
    Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY
    May 25, 1994
    Sotheby's, New York, NY
    Spanierman Gallery, New York, NY
    Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY
    Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Keithley, Cleveland, OH
    March 2, 2020
    the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 11, 2022-January 8, 2023).
    John Marin: Paintings, Watercolours, Drawings, and Etchings. Arts Council Gallery, London, England (1956).
    John Marin Memorial Exhibition. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (1955-56); Phillips Gallery, Washington, D.C. (1955-56); San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA (1955-56); University of California Art Galleries, Los Angeles, CA (1955-56); the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1955-56); Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN (1955-56); Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA (1955-56); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (1955-56).
    John Marin: A Retrospective. Institute of Modern Art, Boston, MA (1947); Phillips Memorial Gallery, Washington, D.C. (1947); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (1947).
    John Marin-A Retrospective Exhibition. Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (October 21-November 22, 1936).
    Recent Watercolors: New Mexico and New York. An American Place, New York, NY (1930).
  • {{cite web|title=On Morse Mountain, No. 6, Maine|url=false|author=John Marin|year=1928|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2020.135