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Downtown New York, Three Movements

A work made of etching with retroussage, selectively wiped, on white wove paper.
© 2018 Estate of John Marin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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  • A work made of etching with retroussage, selectively wiped, on white wove paper.

Date:

1925

Artist:

John Marin (American, 1870-1953)
published by Alfred Stieglitz (American, 1864-1946)

About this artwork

This work is noteworthy because it combines recognizable architectural elements (Wall Street and the Stock Exchange) with playful compositional devices, including the enclosure of pedestrians into a box, one of the “movements” of the work’s title. This isolation of a vignette into a square or lozenge-shaped frame became an important approach for Marin, helping him to draw attention to the art as a tangible surface rather than a window onto visible reality; as he put it, “You must be made to see that artist’s scene and not nature’s scene.”

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

John Marin

Title

Downtown New York, Three Movements

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1925

Medium

Etching with retroussage, selectively wiped, on white wove paper

Inscriptions

Signed, recto, lower left, in graphite: "John Marin"; signed, lower right, in the plate: "Marin/25"; inscribed, bottom left, in graphite: "Printed by John Marin/ Sent out by 291"

Dimensions

Plate: 21 × 16.2 cm (8 5/16 × 6 7/16 in.); Sheet: 39.1 × 29 cm (15 7/16 × 11 7/16 in.)

Credit Line

Alfred Stieglitz Collection

Reference Number

1949.914

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.

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