Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 0 pages
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
One of America’s most important watercolorists, John Marin repeatedly challenged accepted ideas about what the medium could do, taking an improvisational approach to color, paint handling, perspective, and movement. This watercolor was made during Marin’s first summer in Maine, 1914, a place that would become central to his watercolor practice for years to come. It was made on Deer Isle, a locale that provided sweeping vistas over Stonington Harbor and toward Mark Island in the distance. With his characteristic variety of marks, combining bold dashes with a dry brush in the lower right with transparent washes in the distant sky, Marin's goal was to capture the spontaneous feeling of a place. The shape of a figure—probably Marin's wife Marie—is barely discernible in the lower left as it blends with the island's vegetation.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
380065
label
Deer Island
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
0
Source metadata
id
380065
contentType
drawing
title
Deer Island
description
One of America’s most important watercolorists, John Marin repeatedly challenged accepted ideas about what the medium could do, taking an improvisational approach to color, paint handling, perspective, and movement. This watercolor was made during Marin’s first summer in Maine, 1914, a place that would become central to his watercolor practice for years to come. It was made on Deer Isle, a locale that provided sweeping vistas over Stonington Harbor and toward Mark Island in the distance. With his characteristic variety of marks, combining bold dashes with a dry brush in the lower right with transparent washes in the distant sky, Marin's goal was to capture the spontaneous feeling of a place. The shape of a figure—probably Marin's wife Marie—is barely discernible in the lower left as it blends with the island's vegetation.
date
1916
rights
Copyrighted
rightsUri
Copyrighted
language
en
wikidata
Q87481459
creators
3179
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
0
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Image and Sheet: 41.5 x 48.9 cm (16 5/16 x 19 1/4 in.)
cul
America
accession
2020.137
Source extras
tec
Watercolor on moderately thick, rough-textured wove paper
tombstone
Deer Island, 1916. John Marin (American, 1870–1953). Watercolor on moderately thick, rough-textured wove paper; image and sheet: 41.5 x 48.9 cm (16 5/16 x 19 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift, 2020.137. © Estate of John Marin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
collection
DR - American 20th Century
inscriptions
inscription
In pencil, recto, lower right: "Marin 16"
didYouKnow
Of Deer Isle, the Maine locale where he made this watercolor, John Marin wrote that it is "a place of lovely spots and bad spots."
citations
citation
Fine, Ruth. "John Marin." In <em>The Keithley Collection at the Cleveland Museum of Art, </em>edited by Heather Lemonedes Brown, 152-161. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2022.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 152-161; Mentioned: p. 265-267
creditline
Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift
updatedAt
2026-06-11 12:17:40.734000
sourceId
380065
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - American 20th Century
med
Watercolor on moderately thick, rough-textured wove paper
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url