The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

West Point, near Small Point, Maine—Autumn

West Point, near Small Point, Maine—Autumn

1914
(American, 1870–1953)
America
Watercolor with traces of graphite on thick, highly textured wove paper
Image and Sheet: 41.5 x 48.9 cm (16 5/16 x 19 1/4 in.)
Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift 2020.138
© Estate of John Marin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

John Marin returned repeatedly to the site in Maine where he made this watercolor, each time portraying through color, paint handling, perspective, and movement his spontaneous experience of the place.

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. Marin often returned to the same spot repeatedly, making watercolors each time in response to the light and weather of the moment. West Point near Small Point Maine, Autumn is one of three watercolors in the CMA's collection made at the same spot (see 2020.136 and 2020.139). This watercolor shows Marin's responsiveness to the season and vegetation of autumn expressed through color and other hallmarks of his style, chiefly his great variety of marks, from bold dashes to transparent washes.
  • Estate of the Artist
    (Richard York Gallery, New York, NY)
    Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Keithley, Cleveland, OH
    March 2, 2020
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Reich, Sheldon, and John Marin. John Marin: A Stylistic Analysis and Catalogue Raisonné. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1970. Vol II, no. 14.101, p. 404
    Marin, John, and Ruth Fine. John Marin's Autumn: [Exhibition] October 8-29, 1988, at Kennedy Galleries, Inc. New York, NY (40 W. 57th St., New York 10019): The Galleries, 1988. ill. no. 4
  • Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 11, 2022-January 8, 2023).
    John Marin, 1998-1999. Richard York Gallery, New York, NY (1999).
    John Marin's autumn. Kennedy Galleries, Inc. New York, NY (October 8-29, 1988).
  • {{cite web|title=West Point, near Small Point, Maine—Autumn|url=false|author=John Marin|year=1914|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2020.138