About this artwork
Mark Island, Maine, notable for its lighthouse, signals the passage from Penobscot Bay to Stonington Harbor. For this watercolor, Marin started his sketch of the island in graphite rather than charcoal, allowing for greater precision. Yet he playfully set it against the mountainous profile of Mount Desert, a view that could not in reality have been seen from the same vantage point. Marin employed a particularly expressionistic handling of watercolor here: contours are jagged and black, and the paint is heavily manipulated. An electric blue sky, animated by circular wiping, is energized by the single line of yellow marking the contour of the island. The artist’s passionate orchestration of movement, color, and mood map the fluctuation of a turbulent sea, while the reflective silver frame and mount contribute to the sense of dynamism and excitement.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Prints and Drawings
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Artist
- John Marin
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Title
- Sea Movement–Green and Blue
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Place
- United States (Artist's nationality)
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Date
- 1923
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Medium
- Watercolor with wiping, and fabricated charcoal, over graphite, on thick, slightly textured, off-white wove paper (all edges trimmed), hinged to wood-pulp board, faced with cream paper, gilt with silver leaf, in original frame
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Inscriptions
- Signed and dated lower right, in brush and green wash, over charcoal: “Marin 23”; inscribed verso, center, in graphite: "No2 Mark Island / Light House"
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Dimensions
- 42.9 × 52.1 cm (16 15/16 × 20 9/16 in.)
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Credit Line
- Alfred Stieglitz Collection
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Reference Number
- 1949.564
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Copyright
- © 2018 Estate of John Marin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
