After writing a 1,000 word piece about Winslow Homer's eighteen month stay at an English fishing village, I'm writing a series of primers about other artists who made similar journeys.
Who
John Marin (1870-1953), American painter.
Coastal association
Maine, in northern New England: first at Phippsburg, then Stonington, and finally bought a home in Cape Split.
First coastal visit
The coast of Maine in 1914.
Reasons for visiting
Like his near contemporary Marsden Hartley, he loved Maine because it was so remote from the art world that he felt he could make the subject matter his own. Marin also hated New York City in particular, and felt very much drawn to the tradition of artists finding 'truth in nature.' He also wrote:
Dates visited
After 1914, he and his family spent most summers in Maine, maintaining a summer home there even after they officially relocated to New Jersey in the 1940s.
Effect on Work
"In painting, water makes the hand move the way water moves," he once wrote. Marin's best known work is in watercolour, which he mastered during his six year tour of Europe in the early 1900s, but for which he found his true subject in the rocky coast of Maine..'
Rating
10 sea points out of 10.
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| John Marin, Headland, Cape Spit, Maine, 1933, watercolour and chalk |
John Marin (1870-1953), American painter.
Coastal association
Maine, in northern New England: first at Phippsburg, then Stonington, and finally bought a home in Cape Split.
First coastal visit
The coast of Maine in 1914.
Reasons for visiting
Like his near contemporary Marsden Hartley, he loved Maine because it was so remote from the art world that he felt he could make the subject matter his own. Marin also hated New York City in particular, and felt very much drawn to the tradition of artists finding 'truth in nature.' He also wrote:
"Seems to me the true artist must perforce go from time to time to the elemental big forms To sort of retrue himself up to recharge the battery. For these big forms have everything."
Dates visited
After 1914, he and his family spent most summers in Maine, maintaining a summer home there even after they officially relocated to New Jersey in the 1940s.
Effect on Work
"In painting, water makes the hand move the way water moves," he once wrote. Marin's best known work is in watercolour, which he mastered during his six year tour of Europe in the early 1900s, but for which he found his true subject in the rocky coast of Maine..'
Rating
10 sea points out of 10.