Getty Museum

John Marin

Date

1930

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Culture

American

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

A member of Alfred Stieglitz’ circle and close personal friend of Paul Strand, John Marin (1870-1953) was influenced by the late watercolors of Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) in addition to Cubism. During the 1920s Strand wrote a number of articles on Marin, who is shown here painting outdoors at Taos, New Mexico. Around this time many artists headed there at the invitation of Mabel Dodge Luhan (1879-1962), the great patron of the arts who resided in the Southwest. Strand first met her in 1926 and visited the region from 1930 to 1932. Like Marin and many of the artists gathered there, Strand was inspired by the vast landscape, which was so different from that of the eastern seaboard. As he became engaged with the Southwest, Strand was slowly becoming disengaged from Stieglitz (1864-1946). The relationship between the two men had begun deteriorating in the late 1920s and eventually came to an end by the spring of 1932, after Strand exhibited prints at Stieglitz's An American Place. Strand felt that Stieglitz had not successfully promoted the exhibition, which included paintings on glass by his wife Rebecca Salsbury, and was apparently not wholly supportive of the work on display. It was the end of a friendship and an era. Strand was no longer looking to Stieglitz as the important, omnipotent voice in photography. As Stieglitz's work became more introspective, Strand was seeking to represent the world at large. Enlivened by new ideas and people, he turned for advice to Harold Clurman (1901-1980), director of the Group Theatre in New York. The company was inspired by the Moscow Art Theatre and developed a collective approach to acting, in addition to addressing contemporary social issues in its plays. Originally published in _Paul Strand_, In Focus: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum by Anne M. Lyden (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2005), 42. ©2005, J. Paul Getty Trust.

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