Past Exhibition

American Modernism: The Shein Collection

Bold strokes and fainter smudges of black, blue, red, brown, and white dance across a white ground in this painting to suggest an abstracted seascape. A long, horizontal black line three-quarters of the way up the canvas suggests the horizon line. An arched line above seems supported by diagonal lines at the left and right edge, to suggest the span of an arched bridge in the distance. Blue squiggles are mostly contained within the center of the composition to suggest water while brown lines and red marks fill the lower corners, perhaps alluding to a beach or shoreline. The artist signed the work with black letters and the date in the lower right corner: “Marin 52.” The frame has been painted white in the corners and tan on each side, with darker brown lines separating the alternating bands of white and light brown.
John Marin, The Written Sea, 1952, oil on canvas, Gift of Deborah and Ed Shein, 2009.12.1

Details

  • Dates

    -

  • Locations

    East Building, Ground Floor, Northeast
Bold strokes and fainter smudges of black, blue, red, brown, and white dance across a white ground in this painting to suggest an abstracted seascape. A long, horizontal black line three-quarters of the way up the canvas suggests the horizon line. An arched line above seems supported by diagonal lines at the left and right edge, to suggest the span of an arched bridge in the distance. Blue squiggles are mostly contained within the center of the composition to suggest water while brown lines and red marks fill the lower corners, perhaps alluding to a beach or shoreline. The artist signed the work with black letters and the date in the lower right corner: “Marin 52.” The frame has been painted white in the corners and tan on each side, with darker brown lines separating the alternating bands of white and light brown.
John Marin, The Written Sea, 1952, oil on canvas, Gift of Deborah and Ed Shein, 2009.12.1

Overview: 21 works by 19 artists were shown in this exhibition of early modernist paintings, sculptures, and drawings selected from the collection of Edward and Deborah Shein. Included were works by Charles Sheeler, Joseph Stella, Arthur B. Davies, Charles Demuth, Georgia O'Keeffe, and others. Three of the works on view, a painting by John Marin and sculptures by John Storrs and Marcel Duchamp, had been given to the National Gallery of Art by the Sheins in 2008 and 2009.

Nancy Anderson, curator and head, and Charles Brock, associate curator, department of American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art, presented the lecture "American Modernism: The Shein Collection." A public symposium, "The Early Modernists and America," was held on November 6 in the East Building Auditorium. Pianist Terry Waldo presented a concert of early American jazz on November 7 and the National Gallery of Art Piano Trio performed music by American composers on May 16 in honor of the exhibition.

Organization: The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art. Nancy Anderson, curator and head of American and British paintings, Charles Brock, associate curator of American and British paintings, and Harry Cooper, curator of modern and contemporary art, were curators.

Sponsor: The concert on May 16 was supported by The Gottesman Fund in memory of Milton M. Gottesman.

Attendance: 157,480 (232 days)

Catalog: American Modernism: The Shein Collection, by Charles Brock et al. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 2010.

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