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Lot Essay
In 1946, John Marin declared, “I’m calling my pictures this year ‘Movements in Paint’ and not movements of boat, sea or sky, because in these new paintings, although I use objects, I am representing paint first of all and not the motif primarily.” (as quoted in Marin in Oil, Southampton, New York, 1987, p. 55) Painted in the following year, Movement: Green, Red and Black manifests Marin’s emphasis on the process of painting through bold, expressive brushwork used to evoke the natural landscape of Maine. The work demonstrates the exquisite balance between elements of abstraction and realism that earned Marin distinction as one of the most venerated American artists of the twentieth century and influenced the next generation of Abstract Expressionists.
In the late 1920s, Marin revisited oil painting after several years of concentrating primarily on his work in watercolor. Having gained a nuanced knowledge of both media, in his late oils, Marin combined the benefits of both into a distinct working style all his own. William C. Agee explains, “The paint is thin, applied almost like watercolor, thus abolishing any lingering, arbitrary hierarchies between the two mediums; they are fused as one which lets the work become painting alone, just painting, free to go its own course under the artist’s hand.” (John Marin: The Late Oils, New York, 2008, p. 13) Klaus Kertess furthers, “The layering of wet strokes create[s] a more complex modulation of light. The sea’s and the canvas’s surface, as a mirror of light, [become] more pronounced; the dense, dark blues and greens [surrender] to a greater variety of not only hue and tone but also thick and thin paint.” (Marin in Oil, p. 54)
This fusion of styles is particularly evident in Marin's skillful, emotional depiction of the roiling sea in Movement: Green, Red and Black. To capture the undulating waves and strong current of the ocean, Marin employs several overlapping blue-green strokes of varying hue and thickness. He juxtaposes them with more carefully applied, yet still expressive, strokes of deeper red and gray. The horizon line is high, flattening the natural elements of the seascape against the picture plane. Highlights of bright white, applied in textural impasto, break up the kaleidoscopic application of color and signify the white caps of the roiling sea. Parts of the composition are also deliberately left unpainted, “a practice that can be traced to Cézanne, as if to let in more of the fresh Maine air and breeze.” (John Marin: The Late Oils, p. 12)
In Movement: Green, Red and Black, Marin’s unique blending of abstract and representational art, as well as oil and watercolor technique, creates a composition that abandons “virtually any pretense of depicting anything but natural forces and rhythms embodied in the movement of the paint itself…we know it is a seascape because that’s what Marin did, but otherwise all is transformed into constant motion of light and water and wind itself.” (John Marin: The Late Oils, p. 13) Movement: Green, Red and Black demonstrates Marin at the height of his abilities, conveying his unique and highly-personalized sensibility to nature that set him apart from his contemporaries and garnered him distinction as one of America's leading Modernists.
Please note this lot includes the original artist’s frame.
In the late 1920s, Marin revisited oil painting after several years of concentrating primarily on his work in watercolor. Having gained a nuanced knowledge of both media, in his late oils, Marin combined the benefits of both into a distinct working style all his own. William C. Agee explains, “The paint is thin, applied almost like watercolor, thus abolishing any lingering, arbitrary hierarchies between the two mediums; they are fused as one which lets the work become painting alone, just painting, free to go its own course under the artist’s hand.” (John Marin: The Late Oils, New York, 2008, p. 13) Klaus Kertess furthers, “The layering of wet strokes create[s] a more complex modulation of light. The sea’s and the canvas’s surface, as a mirror of light, [become] more pronounced; the dense, dark blues and greens [surrender] to a greater variety of not only hue and tone but also thick and thin paint.” (Marin in Oil, p. 54)
This fusion of styles is particularly evident in Marin's skillful, emotional depiction of the roiling sea in Movement: Green, Red and Black. To capture the undulating waves and strong current of the ocean, Marin employs several overlapping blue-green strokes of varying hue and thickness. He juxtaposes them with more carefully applied, yet still expressive, strokes of deeper red and gray. The horizon line is high, flattening the natural elements of the seascape against the picture plane. Highlights of bright white, applied in textural impasto, break up the kaleidoscopic application of color and signify the white caps of the roiling sea. Parts of the composition are also deliberately left unpainted, “a practice that can be traced to Cézanne, as if to let in more of the fresh Maine air and breeze.” (John Marin: The Late Oils, p. 12)
In Movement: Green, Red and Black, Marin’s unique blending of abstract and representational art, as well as oil and watercolor technique, creates a composition that abandons “virtually any pretense of depicting anything but natural forces and rhythms embodied in the movement of the paint itself…we know it is a seascape because that’s what Marin did, but otherwise all is transformed into constant motion of light and water and wind itself.” (John Marin: The Late Oils, p. 13) Movement: Green, Red and Black demonstrates Marin at the height of his abilities, conveying his unique and highly-personalized sensibility to nature that set him apart from his contemporaries and garnered him distinction as one of America's leading Modernists.
Please note this lot includes the original artist’s frame.