Marin, John [key], 1870–1953, American landscape painter, b. Rutherford, N.J. After a year at Stevens Institute of Technology, he worked for four years as an architectural draftsman. At 28 he entered the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and in 1905 went abroad, where he painted and etched and lived precariously for several years. In 1909 his work was exhibited at Stieglitz's gallery in New York City. He was quickly recognized as a leading American watercolorist. Marin painted scenes of New York, Taos, and particularly Maine seascapes, which he rendered with a few powerful zigzag strokes, often employing angular abstract forms to enclose the composition. His color ranged from subtle, delicate tones to bold, eerie effects. Marin's work in oil and watercolor is in more than 40 public collections in the United States.
See his letters edited by H. J. Seligman (1931, repr. 1970); studies by H. MacKinley (1948, repr. 1970), D. B. Balken (2011), and M. Tedeschi (2011).
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