TidesNet—Online Collections Entry Detail

DescriptionAn etching, “The Lobster Fisherman,” by artist John Marin that dates to 1948. Marin was an early American modernist artist who was born in Rutherford, New Jersey in 1870. His mother died almost immediately afterwards and Marin was raised by relatives in Weehawken, New Jersey. He attended the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey for a year, and then practiced becoming an architect before shifting to becoming an artist. From 1899 to 1901, Marin studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia and then also at the Art Students League in New York City. In 1905, Marin traveled to Europe where he exhibited his work in the Salon in Paris and where he also got his first exposure to modern art. In 1909, Marin held his first solo exhibition at Alfred Stieglitz's 291 gallery in midtown Manhattan in New York City. Marin's association with Stieglitz would last nearly 40 years. In 1936, Marin had a major show of his career’s work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Marin first came to the Maine coast in 1914 and initially to the Small Point area of Phippsburg. In the 1920s, he shifted eastward to spending summers in Stonington. A friend of Marin’s, the writer Herbert Seligman, then told Marin about the Cape Split area in Addison where Seligman’s wife had family. Marin first visited Cape Split in 1933 and a year later he bought a house there. From then on, Marin would spend every summer at Cape Split, while continuing to winter in New Jersey, until he died there in 1953. Artist: John Marin Medium: Etching Classification: Prints Circa: 1948