St. Gervais, Rue Grenier Sur L'Eau, Paris 1909

John Marin made this etching, St. Gervais, Rue Grenier Sur L'Eau, Paris, by digging into a metal plate to create a drawing of the city, and then he printed it, probably in a small edition. Looking at this reminds me of being an artist, wrestling with a picture, trying to find the space and depth. I can almost feel him there, digging in, scraping away, thinking hard about how to conjure up the feeling of being on that street. It's kind of a dark and brooding image, yet he's managed to let light in, too. It’s fascinating to see how an artist can take a seemingly conventional subject, like a Parisian street, and turn it into something so raw and immediate. You can feel Marin’s hand in every line, pushing and pulling the space. It’s a bit like what Marsden Hartley was up to—a little bit dark, a little bit romantic, and completely in love with the act of making.