St. Johns, New Brunswick, Canada by John Marin

St. Johns, New Brunswick, Canada

1951

0:00
0:00

Artwork details

Medium
drawing, pencil
Dimensions
sheet: 27.94 × 35.24 cm (11 × 13 7/8 in.)
Copyright
National Gallery of Art: CC0 1.0

Tags

#drawing#landscape#pencil#line#cityscape#modernism#realism

About this artwork

John Marin made this drawing of St. Johns, New Brunswick, Canada, with what looks like graphite on paper, and it's all about capturing a fleeting impression. It's like he's saying, "Here's what I saw, quickly, before it changes." The marks are so immediate, so responsive. Look at how he suggests the buildings, not with careful outlines, but with energetic scribbles. There's this raw, unfinished quality to it that I find really appealing, it gives the sense of constant movement. And then you notice how he uses the weight of the lines to suggest depth, like the heavier marks pull the foreground forward. Those loose lines in the foreground are like a stage. It reminds me a bit of Arthur Dove, in the way he tried to capture the energy of a place. It's art as a process, always in motion, never quite fixed.

Comments

Share your thoughts