Ye Old Dutch Church, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 1951

John Marin's "Ye Old Dutch Church, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey" is made with loose pencil lines, all light and airy. I imagine him outside, squinting in the sun. The scene shimmers. The church isn’t static or solid. I can see him building up the form with layers of lines, going over and over, searching. The trees almost vibrate. It feels so immediate, like he’s trying to capture something fleeting. It makes me think about how we perceive architecture and nature, not as fixed but as constantly changing, shifting with light and shadow. Marin was part of a really interesting moment in American art. He was in conversation with the European avant-garde but doing his own thing, finding a way to express the energy and dynamism of modern life through a distinctly American lens. You see that in other artists from the period, like Georgia O’Keeffe, who were pushing the boundaries of representation. This drawing reminds us that art isn’t just about capturing a likeness; it’s about communicating a feeling, a way of seeing, a way of being in the world.