JOHN MARIN (1870-1953)

The present watercolor belongs to a group of works John Marin painted in 1926 depicting the White Mountains of New Hampshire, which he visited that summer on his way to Stonington, Maine. In a letter to Alfred Stieglitz, he wrote: "Some of the scenery, lakes and mountains in Vermont and New Hampshire, I took to like a duck to water." (as quoted in S. Reich, John Marin: A Stylistic Analysis and Catalogue Raisonné, vol. I, Tucson, Arizona, 1970, p. 167)

Chocorua Along with Dead Trees, White Mountains, N.H. is a striking example of Marin's masterful approach to watercolor, characterized by his energetic brushwork and bold contrasts of color. Here, Marin interrupts the elegant facade of the mountains with a line of trees placed in the foreground. The simplified forms are emphasized by his bright colors and strong outlines, heightened by the spontaneous nature of the watercolor medium. According to Kristi Dahm, Marin's "deliberate choice to work primarily in the medium [of watercolor] points to his independent nature and suggests both his preference for unrestricted experimentation and his willingness to embrace unpredictable outcomes." (John Marin's Watercolors: A Medium for Modernism, exhibition catalogue, Chicago, Illinois, 2010, p. 44)