John Marin Collection
The John Marin Collection at the Colby College Museum of Art is a retrospective collection of paintings, watercolors, drawings, etchings, and photographs.
Twenty-four works spanning the artist’s career from 1888 to 1953 were given to the museum in 1973 by John Marin Jr. and Norma B. Marin. An additional work was given in 1992, and in 1998 Norma Marin made a promised gift of 29 etchings by Marin and seven vintage photographs of Marin, including a platinum print by Alfred Stieglitz. This core collection ranks next to the National Gallery of Art’s collection in media variety and size. These works are the only retrospective collection of the artist’s work in an academic museum.
PLEASE NOTE: Not all works in the Colby Museum collection are on view at any given time. If you have a question about works on view, please call 207-859-5600 prior to visiting.
Biography of John Marin
An early modernist artist associated with the Stieglitz circle, John Marin is best known for his watercolors of coastal Maine and urban scenes of New York. Marin made his first trip to Maine in 1914 and, taken by the Maine landscape, purchased a small island off Small Point Harbor, where he camped and painted during the summers of 1914, 1915, and 1917. From 1919 to 1928 he summered at Deer Isle and Stonington on Penobscot Bay. In 1933 he made his first visit to Cape Split, South Addison, where he would buy a house one year later. Cape Split would remain a central subject in his art until his death there in 1953.
Banner Image: John Marin, Deer Isle, 1921 Watercolor and charcoal on paper, 14 in. x 17 in., Gift of John, Norma, and Lisa Marin in Memory of Marguerite and William Zorach, 1968.015