Past Exhibition

Selections and Transformations

Bold strokes and textured squiggles of light teal, muted peacock blue, chestnut-brown, and gray create the impression of a churning sea beneath an oyster-white sky in this abstracted painting. Near the center of the composition, lime-green triangles against a larger patch of slate gray march toward the high horizon line. More green triangles line the lower edge of the canvas. The upper left is filled by a tall, sloping mound of gray and smoky purple layered with strokes of black. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower right, “Marin 38.”
John Marin, Grey Sea, 1938, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John Marin, Jr., 1987.19.1

Details

  • Dates

    -

  • Locations

    West Building, Ground Floor, Central Gallery
Bold strokes and textured squiggles of light teal, muted peacock blue, chestnut-brown, and gray create the impression of a churning sea beneath an oyster-white sky in this abstracted painting. Near the center of the composition, lime-green triangles against a larger patch of slate gray march toward the high horizon line. More green triangles line the lower edge of the canvas. The upper left is filled by a tall, sloping mound of gray and smoky purple layered with strokes of black. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower right, “Marin 38.”
John Marin, Grey Sea, 1938, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John Marin, Jr., 1987.19.1

Overview: 10 sketchbooks, 26 prints, 26 paintings, and 85 drawings by John Marin were presented in this first comprehensive exhibition of the artist's oeuvre in 20 years. Several of the works in the exhibition were donated to the National Gallery in 1986 by Mr. and Mrs. John Marin Jr.

Organization: The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery. Ruth E. Fine, curator of modern prints and drawings, was the exhibition curator. Gaillard Ravenel and Mark Leithauser designed the exhibition, and Gordon Anson designed the lighting.

Attendance: 205,621

Catalog: John Marin, by Ruth E. Fine. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art; New York: Abbeville Press, 1990.

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