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Downtown, New York is a very small, vibrating watercolor with a densely packed composition. Across the bottom, in prominent black strokes, are train tracks. Buildings are piled vertically, reflecting the remarkable expansion that took place in the early decades of the twentieth century. At the lower left are two red structures, probably brick, with large windows, possibly indicating artists’ studios. To the right is a two- or three-story gray stone building. Looming above it is a skyscraper with setbacks and a triangular roofline. A dark and cloudy sky is defined by green and black washes enhanced by arcing graphic strokes. Around the edges of the entire sheet are washes of dull ochre that serve to frame and concentrate the image.
Although the exact location of this scene cannot be identified, it is typical of Marin’s fascination with urban architecture. Among the New York landmarks that Marin favored and painted repeatedly were the Brooklyn Bridge, the Singer and Telephone buildings, and most of all the Woolworth Building—the tallest building in the world until 1930. Marin, however, did not focus on single buildings, but rather the totality of the cityscape. “I see great forces at work; great movements. There are large buildings, each under the influence of the other; it is the warring of the great and the small, the influence of one mass operating on a greater or smaller mass.” [2] In addition, Marin was enraptured by the elevated train system that rushed thousands to their destinations on a daily basis, and, in the foreground of Downtown, New York, he indicates it with bold graphic strokes.
Trains, automobiles, and buses added to the bustle and noise of the city. For Marin, who had grown up in a musical household and played the piano, the sounds of the city were a key part of its ethos. As he wrote to his friend Alfred Stieglitz: “Everything became alive each a playing with and into each other like a series of wonderful music instruments.” This statement and this painting, along with many others, reflect the pulse of jazz music, which was gaining popular acclaim in the mid-1920s. Marin also shared with jazz musicians a penchant for improvisation, and watercolors and drawings were frequently done on the spot, spontaneously. “They—the drawings—were mostly made in a series of wanderings around my City—New York—with pencil and paper in—sort of—Short hand—writings—as it were—Swiftly put down—obeying impulses of a willful intoxicating mustness—of the nearness—nay—of the being in it—of being part of it—of that which to my Eye went on—of the rhythmic movements of people on Streets—of buildings a rearing from sidewalk—of sort of mad wonder dancing to way up aloft—”[3]
Throughout his long and productive career, Marin rendered landscapes and cityscapes in a bold and individualistic style that hovered between representation and abstraction—a position that gained him the admiration of ordinary Americans as well as that of the Abstract Expressionists.
Notes:
[1] Marin, 1913, quoted in Martha Tedeschi, “Great Forces at Work: John Marin’s New York,” in John Marin’s Watercolors: A Medium for Modernism (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2011), 99.
[2] Marin, 1913, quoted in Tedeschi, “John Marin’s New York,” 114.
[3] Marin to Stieglitz, October 9, 1919, Alfred Stieglitz Archive, Beinecke Library, Yale University Collection of American Literature, quoted in Cleve Gray, ed., John Marin by John Marin (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977), 84.
ProvenanceAbout 1970
Dr. and Mrs. Harold Rifkin, New York. [1]
From 1985 to 1996
Betsy Main Babcock (1937-2001), purchased from Hirschl & Alder Galleries, Inc., New York on July 9, 1985. [2]
From 1996
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Betsy Main Babcock on March 28, 1996. [3]
Notes:
[1] Reich, Sheldon. “John Marin: A Stylistic Analysis and Catalogue Raisonné.” Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 1970: 546.
[2] Memo to File, March 4, 1993.
[3] Deed of Gift, object file. The watercolor had been proposed for donation in March 1993, but the official paperwork was not completed until this time.
Exhibition History2006-2007
American Watercolors: 1880-1965
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (7/1/2006-1/15/2007)
2009
Stieglitz Circle: Beyond O’Keeffe
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (6/6/2009-11/15/2009)
2021-2022
The O'Keeffe Circle: Artist as Gallerist and Collector
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (9/10/2021-3/3/2021)
Published ReferencesCassidy, Donna M. "'Seeing' Musically: The Meanings of Music in 20th-century American Art" Jazz: An American Muse. Winston-Salem, NC: Reynolda House Museum of American Art, 2000: 16.
Reich, Sheldon. John Marin: A Stylistic Analysis and Catalogue Raisonné. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 1970: 546, no. 25.22.
Wagner, Ann Prentice. Becoming John Marin: Modernist at Work. Fayetteville, AR: The University of Arkansas Press, 2018: pg 21.
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Reynolda: Her Muses, Her Stories , with contributions by Martha R. Severens and David Park Curry (Winston-Salem, N.C.: Reynolda House Museum of American Art affiliated with Wake Forest University, 2017). pg 232, 233
DepartmentAmerican Art
Downtown, New York
Artist
John Marin
(1870 - 1953)
Datecirca 1925
Mediumwatercolor and graphite on paper mounted to board
DimensionsFrame: 12 1/8 x 11 11/16 in. (30.8 x 29.7 cm)
Image: 4 1/4 x 3 7/8 in. (10.8 x 9.8 cm)
SignedMarin
Credit LineGift of Betsy Main Babcock
Copyright© 2021 Estate of John Marin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Object number1996.2.1
DescriptionThere is little doubt that John Marin was passionate about New York City and was exhilarated by its pace, noise, and imposing new buildings, which appealed to him after his earlier endeavors in architecture. When, in 1910, he returned home after five years abroad, Marin encountered a city undergoing a rapid transformation due to increased immigration, a building boom, and major improvements to area transportation. He set about capturing all this in his many etchings and watercolors, declaring, “If these buildings move me, they too must have life. Thus the whole city is alive; buildings, people, all are alive; and the more they move me the more I feel them to be alive.” [1]Downtown, New York is a very small, vibrating watercolor with a densely packed composition. Across the bottom, in prominent black strokes, are train tracks. Buildings are piled vertically, reflecting the remarkable expansion that took place in the early decades of the twentieth century. At the lower left are two red structures, probably brick, with large windows, possibly indicating artists’ studios. To the right is a two- or three-story gray stone building. Looming above it is a skyscraper with setbacks and a triangular roofline. A dark and cloudy sky is defined by green and black washes enhanced by arcing graphic strokes. Around the edges of the entire sheet are washes of dull ochre that serve to frame and concentrate the image.
Although the exact location of this scene cannot be identified, it is typical of Marin’s fascination with urban architecture. Among the New York landmarks that Marin favored and painted repeatedly were the Brooklyn Bridge, the Singer and Telephone buildings, and most of all the Woolworth Building—the tallest building in the world until 1930. Marin, however, did not focus on single buildings, but rather the totality of the cityscape. “I see great forces at work; great movements. There are large buildings, each under the influence of the other; it is the warring of the great and the small, the influence of one mass operating on a greater or smaller mass.” [2] In addition, Marin was enraptured by the elevated train system that rushed thousands to their destinations on a daily basis, and, in the foreground of Downtown, New York, he indicates it with bold graphic strokes.
Trains, automobiles, and buses added to the bustle and noise of the city. For Marin, who had grown up in a musical household and played the piano, the sounds of the city were a key part of its ethos. As he wrote to his friend Alfred Stieglitz: “Everything became alive each a playing with and into each other like a series of wonderful music instruments.” This statement and this painting, along with many others, reflect the pulse of jazz music, which was gaining popular acclaim in the mid-1920s. Marin also shared with jazz musicians a penchant for improvisation, and watercolors and drawings were frequently done on the spot, spontaneously. “They—the drawings—were mostly made in a series of wanderings around my City—New York—with pencil and paper in—sort of—Short hand—writings—as it were—Swiftly put down—obeying impulses of a willful intoxicating mustness—of the nearness—nay—of the being in it—of being part of it—of that which to my Eye went on—of the rhythmic movements of people on Streets—of buildings a rearing from sidewalk—of sort of mad wonder dancing to way up aloft—”[3]
Throughout his long and productive career, Marin rendered landscapes and cityscapes in a bold and individualistic style that hovered between representation and abstraction—a position that gained him the admiration of ordinary Americans as well as that of the Abstract Expressionists.
Notes:
[1] Marin, 1913, quoted in Martha Tedeschi, “Great Forces at Work: John Marin’s New York,” in John Marin’s Watercolors: A Medium for Modernism (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2011), 99.
[2] Marin, 1913, quoted in Tedeschi, “John Marin’s New York,” 114.
[3] Marin to Stieglitz, October 9, 1919, Alfred Stieglitz Archive, Beinecke Library, Yale University Collection of American Literature, quoted in Cleve Gray, ed., John Marin by John Marin (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977), 84.
ProvenanceAbout 1970
Dr. and Mrs. Harold Rifkin, New York. [1]
From 1985 to 1996
Betsy Main Babcock (1937-2001), purchased from Hirschl & Alder Galleries, Inc., New York on July 9, 1985. [2]
From 1996
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Betsy Main Babcock on March 28, 1996. [3]
Notes:
[1] Reich, Sheldon. “John Marin: A Stylistic Analysis and Catalogue Raisonné.” Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 1970: 546.
[2] Memo to File, March 4, 1993.
[3] Deed of Gift, object file. The watercolor had been proposed for donation in March 1993, but the official paperwork was not completed until this time.
Exhibition History2006-2007
American Watercolors: 1880-1965
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (7/1/2006-1/15/2007)
2009
Stieglitz Circle: Beyond O’Keeffe
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (6/6/2009-11/15/2009)
2021-2022
The O'Keeffe Circle: Artist as Gallerist and Collector
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (9/10/2021-3/3/2021)
Published ReferencesCassidy, Donna M. "'Seeing' Musically: The Meanings of Music in 20th-century American Art" Jazz: An American Muse. Winston-Salem, NC: Reynolda House Museum of American Art, 2000: 16.
Reich, Sheldon. John Marin: A Stylistic Analysis and Catalogue Raisonné. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 1970: 546, no. 25.22.
Wagner, Ann Prentice. Becoming John Marin: Modernist at Work. Fayetteville, AR: The University of Arkansas Press, 2018: pg 21.
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Reynolda: Her Muses, Her Stories , with contributions by Martha R. Severens and David Park Curry (Winston-Salem, N.C.: Reynolda House Museum of American Art affiliated with Wake Forest University, 2017). pg 232, 233
Status
Not on view