John Marin on Good Art (NPG III)
John Marin (1870-1953) rivals John Singer Sargent on my short list of favorite artists. He painted almost-but-not-quite abstract scenes in watercolor with an amazing vitality, not to mention his eye for color and line.#
I have been thinking of Marin for a couple of reasons. As I mentioned before, we recently visited the Delaware Art Museum, and I was surprised to see a couple of very nice paintings there by Marin. Then, this past weekend when we visited the National Portrait Gallery, I met up with Marin again. This time, it was in the form of photographs of the artist in his studio ("artists in their studios" was the theme of the exhibition).*
These photographs were in a case on the floor, accompanied by a letter (undated) Marin had written to his dealer, Edith Gregor Halpert. The following excerpt** is the last half of the letter:
The other night I saw the full moon arising, suspended over our city — It gave me a —thrill— of a verity should not our picture embrace a —thrill— based on a —Life Experiences — "Try with all that is within you" for — the thrill begotten — looking at the good picture — hearing the good piece of music –Ah— to have that.
How vaporish the comments of most commentators.
———-
#This painting, Schooner Yachts, Deer Isle, Maine (from 1928) is not one I've seen in person, but it is characteristic of Marin's vitality and near-abstract vision.
*Although they are not the same photographs as in the exhibit, here are a couple of photos of Marin: one, two.
**I try to reproduce Marin's orthographic exuberance — he seemed very fond of dashes and apparently used long dashes around words and expressions he wanted to emphasize, in place of underlining or where printers might use italics. And while we're here in a footnote, the "s" at the end of "Life Experiences" was in the original (despite the singular article "a" beforehand), but I didn't want a "sic" to interrupt the flow of his words.