The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of May 6, 2024
Deer Island
1916
(American, 1870–1953)
Image and Sheet: 41.5 x 48.9 cm (16 5/16 x 19 1/4 in.)
© Estate of John Marin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
Of Deer Isle, the Maine locale where he made this watercolor, John Marin wrote that it is "a place of lovely spots and bad spots."Description
One of America’s most important watercolorists, John Marin repeatedly challenged accepted ideas about what the medium could do, taking an improvisational approach to color, paint handling, perspective, and movement. This watercolor was made during Marin’s first summer in Maine, 1914, a place that would become central to his watercolor practice for years to come. It was made on Deer Isle, a locale that provided sweeping vistas over Stonington Harbor and toward Mark Island in the distance. With his characteristic variety of marks, combining bold dashes with a dry brush in the lower right with transparent washes in the distant sky, Marin's goal was to capture the spontaneous feeling of a place. The shape of a figure—probably Marin's wife Marie—is barely discernible in the lower left as it blends with the island's vegetation.- John Marin (the artist) [1872-1953]Dr. John WendellNed L. Pines, New York, NYNovember 29, 1990Sotheby's, New York, NYKennedy Galleries, Inc., New York, NYMr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Keithley, Cleveland, OHMarch 2, 2020the 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).
- {{cite web|title=Deer Island|url=false|author=John Marin|year=1916|access-date=06 May 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2020.137