A Notable Birth

On this day in 1870, painter John Marin was born.

Marin was an early modernist who worked in watercolors, oils, and etching. His style was semiabstract and expressionistic, though always rooted in natural forms and rhythms. In 1950 he became the first American to be given an exhibition at the Venice Biennale.

Marin's portrait (shown below) was taken by the studio of Peter A. Juley and Son. Visit our Juley Collection resources to see many other artists and their artworks!

Source: Joan Stahl. American Artists in Photographic Portraits from the Peter A. Juley & Son Collection (Washington, D.C. and Mineola, New York: National Museum of American Art and Dover Publications, Inc., 1995).

Pictured top: John Marin, 1870–1953, The Sea, Maine, 1921, watercolor and charcoal on paper, 16 1/2 x 19 5/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase.

Pictured bottom: Portrait of John Marin, 1870–1953, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Peter A. Juley & Son Collection.