John Marin (1870-1953)

"[John] Marin saw movement in his paintings not only as a sign of modernity, a means of capturing the quickening pace of life in the twentieth century. It was also for him a manifestation of the pulse and rhythm of life itself." (M.E. Ward, Movement: Marin, exhibition catalogue, New York, 2001, p. 7) The tempo of the evolving life in Manhattan and the city's role as center of Modernist thinking were keys to Marin's success early in his career. As evident in the present painting, Weehawken Sequence, Marin was a close observer of the shapes, spaces and rhythms present in a modern metropolis. The horizontal bands of saturated color, juxtaposed against the vigorous brushwork, create a heightened sense of movement and tension that underscore the overall harmony of man and nature that define Marin's most successful works.