John Marin

John Marin
John Marin in 1922
Born	(1870-12-23)December 23, 1870 Rutherford, New Jersey
Died	October 1, 1953(1953-10-01) (aged 82) Addison, Maine
Nationality	American
Education	Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Known for	Modern art

John Marin (December 23, 1870 – October 2, 1953) was an early American modernist artist. He is known for his abstract landscapes and watercolors.

Marin was born in Rutherford, New Jersey. His mother died nine days after his birth, and he was raised by two aunts in Weehawken, New Jersey. He attended the Stevens Institute of Technology for a year, and tried unsuccessfully to become an architect.

From 1899 to 1901, Marin attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. In Philadelphia he studied with Thomas Pollock Anshutz and William Merritt Chase. He also studied at the Art Students League of New York. In 1905, like many American artists Marin went to Europe, initially to Paris. He exhibited his work in the Salon, where he also got his first exposure to modern art. He traveled through Europe for six years, and painted in the Netherlands, Belgium, England, and Italy. In Europe, he mastered a type of watercolor where he achieved an abstract ambience, almost a pure abstraction with color that ranges from transparency to translucency, accompanied by strong opacities, and linear elements, always with a sense of freedom, which became one of his trademarks.

In 1909, Marin held his first one-man exhibition at Alfred Stieglitz's 291 gallery in New York City. He had been introduced to Stieglitz by the photographer Edward Steichen, whom Marin in turn had met through the painter Arthur B. Carles. Marin's association with Stieglitz would last nearly forty years, and Stieglitz's philosophical and financial support would prove essential. From 1909 until his death in 1946, Stieglitz showed Marin's work almost every year in one of his galleries. Marin also participated in the landmark 1913 Armory Show.