John Marin American, 1870-1953
Looking out the Window, West Point, Maine, 1914
Watercolor and graphite on paper
19 1/2 x 15 3/4 inches
Signed and dated at lower right: Marin 14 // inscribed in Alfred Stieglitz's hand on an original label affixed to the reverse: Looking out the Window, Deer Isle— [sic] / Maine / by John Marin— / 1914
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Painted in 1914, the present work dates to Marin’s first summer in Maine, and features the view from the cottage he and his new wife Marie occupied on West Point....
Painted in 1914, the present work dates to Marin’s first summer in Maine, and features the view
from the cottage he and his new wife Marie occupied on West Point. Marin was encouraged to
visit Maine by the artist Ernest Haskell, and the summer of 1914 was one of his most prolific up
until that date—he produced about 100 paintings as he applied his innovative watercolor
practice to the inspiring new subject matter.
The 1910s were an important decade for Marin as he emerged as a leading figure in the
modernist movement in America. He had his first solo exhibition at Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 gallery
in 1910, and participated in the most avant-garde exhibitions of the decade: the Armory
Show (1913) and the Forum Exhibition of Modern American painters (1916). During this
decade, Marin discovered the New York City skyline and the Maine coastline, the subject that
would define his artistic output throughout his career.
Looking Out the Window is among Marin’s earliest examples in watercolor of focusing on the
outer edges of his work and using internal framing devices to enclose the image—a technique
that he would further develop in the 1920s. In this instance, he used the window’s mullions to
define four separate views. Ruth Fine connects Marin’s experimentation with internal framing
devices to his printmaking technique that involved inking the plate’s bevel edge to control the
edges of an image
from the cottage he and his new wife Marie occupied on West Point. Marin was encouraged to
visit Maine by the artist Ernest Haskell, and the summer of 1914 was one of his most prolific up
until that date—he produced about 100 paintings as he applied his innovative watercolor
practice to the inspiring new subject matter.
The 1910s were an important decade for Marin as he emerged as a leading figure in the
modernist movement in America. He had his first solo exhibition at Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 gallery
in 1910, and participated in the most avant-garde exhibitions of the decade: the Armory
Show (1913) and the Forum Exhibition of Modern American painters (1916). During this
decade, Marin discovered the New York City skyline and the Maine coastline, the subject that
would define his artistic output throughout his career.
Looking Out the Window is among Marin’s earliest examples in watercolor of focusing on the
outer edges of his work and using internal framing devices to enclose the image—a technique
that he would further develop in the 1920s. In this instance, he used the window’s mullions to
define four separate views. Ruth Fine connects Marin’s experimentation with internal framing
devices to his printmaking technique that involved inking the plate’s bevel edge to control the
edges of an image
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