Marin, who briefly studied architecture, painted this watercolor a year after moving to Cliffside, New Jersey. Viewed from across the river, the skyline of Lower Manhattan rises triumphantly. Marin’s penchant for vivid colors and use of heavy charcoal strokes to accentuate the waves and articulate the gridded high-rises create a composition pulsing with the life of the city. One critic described Marin as an urban visionary, "Other artists have seen the surfaces of New York; but Marin sees New York itself, rearing monstrous pointed heads into a smiling sky . . . the mechanical, swirling, vibrant life of the city."
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Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): Marin/ 21
the artist (from 1921; to Stieglitz); Alfred Stieglitz, New York (by 1933–d. 1946; his estate, 1946–49; gift to MMA)
Montross Gallery, New York. "Watercolors, Oil Paintings and Etchings, John Marin," January 24–February 11, 1922, no. 106 or 107 (as "Downtown New York from River").
Rochester, N. Y. Memorial Art Gallery. "The Dial Portfolio of "Living Art"," February–March 1924, no. 69 (as "Lower Manhattan," Property of Alfred Stieglitz).
New York. An American Place. "Twenty-five Years of John Marin, 1908–1932: John Marin, 33 Watercolors," October 16–November 27, 1933, no catalogue (checklist no. 10).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "John Marin: Watercolors, Oil Paintings, Etchings," October 19–November 22, 1936, no. 38.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "History of an American, Alfred Stieglitz: '291' and After, Selections from the Stieglitz Collection," July 1–November 1, 1944, no. 222.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "John Marin Memorial Exhibition," March 1–April 17, 1955, no. 15 (wc).
Washington, D. C. Phillips Gallery. "John Marin Memorial Exhibition," May 15–June 30, 1955, no. 15 (wc).
San Francisco Museum of Art. "John Marin Memorial Exhibition," July 19–September 11, 1955, no. 15 (wc).
University of California, Los Angeles. "John Marin Memorial Exhibition," September 28–November 9, 1955, no. 15 (wc).
Cleveland Museum of Art. "John Marin Memorial Exhibition," November 17, 1955–January 1, 1956, no. 15 (wc).
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "John Marin Memorial Exhibition," February 3–March 20, 1956, no. 15 (wc).
Palm Beach. Society of the Four Arts. "John Marin Memorial Exhibition," March 9–20, 1956 (part 1, drawings, etchings and watercolors); March 23–April 1, 1956 (part 2, oils), no. 15 (wc).
University of Georgia, Athens. "John Marin Memorial Exhibition," May 1956, no. 15 (wc).
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "John Marin Memorial Exhibition," June 13–July 29, 1956, no. 15 (wc).
London. Arts Council Gallery. "John Marin: Paintings, Watercolours, Drawings, and Etchings: An Exhibition," September 22–October 20, 1956, no. 45.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Fourteen American Masters: Paintings from Colonial Times to Today," October 16, 1958–January 4, 1959, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings and Watercolors by John Marin," February 3–March 29, 1981, no catalogue.
Seattle Art Museum. "American Watercolors from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Selection 1," February 7–March 31, 1991, no. 131.
Tulsa. Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art. "American Watercolors from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Selection 1," April 20–June 15, 1991, no. 131.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Watercolors from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 15–December 10, 1991, no.131.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "John Marin's New York: 1910–1936," August 23–November 9, 1997, no catalogue.
Chicago. Terra Museum of American Art. "Debating American Modernism: Stieglitz, Duchamp and the New York Avant-Garde," August 29–November 30, 2003, unnumbered cat. (p. 13).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "John Marin Watercolors," March 26–August 26, 2012, no catalogue.
Yonkers, N. Y. Hudson River Museum. "Industrial Sublime: Modernism and the Transformation of New York's Rivers, 1900–1940," October 12, 2013–January 17, 2014, no. 48.
Virgil Barker. "The Water Colors of John Marin." Arts 5 (February 1924), p. 76, ill.
Carolyn Wynne. "Aspects of Space: John Marin and William Faulkner." American Quarterly 16, no. 1 (Spring 1964), p. 67.
A. L. Chanin. Art Guide/ New York. New York, 1965, p. 97.
Sheldon Reich. John Marin: A Stylistic Analysis and Catalogue Raisonné. Tucson, 1970, vol. 2, p. 486, fig. 21.32.
Grace Glueck. New York: The Painted City. Salt Lake City, 1992, p. 56, ill. p. 57 (color).
Jessica Murphy inStieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe. The Alfred Stieglitz Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Lisa Mintz Messinger. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2011, pp. 173, 270, no. 134, ill. (color).
Rachel Mustalish inStieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe. The Alfred Stieglitz Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Lisa Mintz Messinger. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2011, p. 173.
Kirsten M. Jensen inIndustrial Sublime: Modernism and the Transformation of New York's Rivers, 1900–1940. Exh. cat., Hudson River Museum. Yonkers, N. Y., 2013, pp. 71–72, 78, 140–41, no. 48, ill. (color).
John Marin (American, Rutherford, New Jersey 1870–1953 Cape Split, Maine)
1913
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