Circus Scene c. 1945

John Marin made this drawing of a circus scene with crayon and pencil, and what strikes me is the absolute freedom in his mark-making. It’s like he’s trying to capture not just what he sees, but the feeling of being at a circus – the energy, the chaos, the sheer spectacle. Look at how he uses color. It’s not about realism, but about creating a sense of vibrancy and movement. Red zigzags pulse, maybe they are the big top. See those black lines shooting across the page? They seem to slice through the scene, adding to the feeling of excitement and disorientation. And everything is held loosely within a few circular scribbles, perhaps containing and describing the circus ring itself. Marin reminds me a bit of Arthur Dove, another American modernist who wasn’t afraid to embrace abstraction. Both artists were interested in capturing the essence of a moment, rather than simply depicting it. And like Dove, Marin shows us that art is an ongoing conversation, a constant exploration of new ways of seeing and feeling the world.