About this artwork
This work, painted in Rowe, Massachusetts, demonstrates how Marin persevered with his unorthodox watercolor practice, quickly becoming confident in manipulating charcoal with watercolor washes. The black media allowed him to emphasize selected contours and pick out the tiny forms nestled in the distant landscape. When the charcoal came into contact with particularly wet applications of watercolor, it diffused, producing elegant, spontaneous effects that recall the fluidity of his Tyrolean watercolors. Here Marin did away with hard lines; the resulting softness communicates a compelling sensation of lush dampness, even conjuring the heady organic scent brought about by spring showers.
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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
- Spring Rains
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Place
- United States (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- 1918
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Medium
- Watercolor with blotting and wiping, and with charcoal, on thick, moderately textured, ivory wove paper (lower and left edges trimmed), in original frame
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Inscriptions
- Signed and dated lower left, in watercolor over charcoal: "Marin 18"; inscribed verso, lower left corner, in graphite: "Stieglitz (est) #12 / 16 5/16 x 19 7/16”
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Dimensions
- 42 × 49.6 cm (16 9/16 × 19 9/16 in.)
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Credit Line
- Alfred Stieglitz Collection
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Reference Number
- 1949.558
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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.
