Rocks and Sea: Small Point, Maine
1931
John Marin
John Marin (American, 1870–1953)
American Painting and Sculpture
Rocks and Sea: Small Point, Maine, 1931. John Marin (American, 1870–1953). Oil on canvas; framed: 65.4 x 80.6 x 6.4 cm (25 3/4 x 31 3/4 x 2 1/2 in.); unframed: 56.2 x 71 cm (22 1/8 x 27 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 1956.361 © Estate of John Marin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Primarily a watercolorist, Marin did not start working with oil paints in earnest until he was 60 years old. This vigorously rendered scene focuses on white-capped waves colliding against the rugged contours of shoreline. The artist found Maine endlessly captivating, describing it as "one fierce, relentless, cruel, beautiful, fascinating, hellish, and all other ish'es place." In a poll of art critics held in 1948 by Look magazine, Marin was named “America’s Artist No. 1.”
- Maker/Artist
- Marin, John
- Classification
- Painting
- Formatted Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 65.4 x 80.6 x 6.4 cm (25 3/4 x 31 3/4 x 2 1/2 in.); Unframed: 56.2 x 71 cm (22 1/8 x 27 15/16 in.)
- Inscribed
- Inscription: signed lower right: Marin / 31
- Departments
- American Painting and Sculpture
- Accession Number
- 1956.361
- Credit Line
- Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund
- Exhibitions
- John Marin in Retrospect, Modern Art in America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries, Made in U.S.A., l'art américain, 1908-1943, entre nationalisme et internationalisme [FRAME], The Great American Thing: Modern Art and National Identity, 1915-1935, Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection, Philadelphia, The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, The 129th Annual Exhibition (28 January-25 February 1934), cat. no. 323, listed p. 36. <br>New York, The Museum of Modern Art, John Marin: Watercolors, Oil Paintings, Etchings (1936), illus. cat. no. 162. <br>Washington, D.C., The Corcoran Gallery of Art, John Marin in Retrospect: An Exhibition of His Oils and Watercolors (2 March-15 April 1962); traveled to Manchester, NH, The Currier Gallery of Art (9 May-24 June 1962); cat. no. 5, not illus. <br>Munich, Haus der Kunst, Amerikanische Malerei 1930-1980 (14 November 1981-31 January 1982), illus. cat. no. 7, p. 27. <br>Southampton, NY, The Parrish Art Museum, Marin in Oil (18 July-20 September 1987); traveled to West Palm Beach, FL, The Norton Gallery and School of Art (11 October-29 November 1987); to Savannah, GA, The Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences (20 January-7 March 1988); to University Park, PA, Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University (20 March-18 May 1988); to Buffalo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery (16 July-4 September 1988); illus. cat. no. 15, p. 80, listed p. 121. <br>Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Reckoning with Winslow Homer: His Late Paintings and Their Influence (19 September-18 November 1990); traveled to Columbus, Columbus Museum of Art (16 December 1990-10 February 1991); to Washington, D.C., The Corcoran Gallery of Art (16 March-12 May 1991), cat. not numbered, illus. fig. 115. <br>Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Modern Art and America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries (28 January-22 April 2001), cat. not numbered, illus. plate 126, p. 349. <br>Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Made in USA: L'Art Américain, 1908-1947 (10 October-31 December 2001); traveled to Rennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts (18 January-31 March 2002); to Montpellier, Musée Fabre (12 April-23 June 2002), cat. not numbered, illus. p. 156. <br>Figge Arts Center, Davenport Museum of Art (9/17/2005 - 1/1/2006) and Tacoma Art Museum (1/29/2006 - 5/21/2006): "The Great American Thing: Modern Art and National Identity, 1915-1935"
- Rights Statement
- Copyrighted undefined
Have a concern, a correction, or something to add?