Courtesy The Hyde
The Hyde Collection has acquired a watercolor by the leading early American Modernist John Marin titled “Lake George.”
The painting, which depicts a view from Bolton Landing, was purchased at Sotheby’s auction house on June 9 with support from the Museum’s Charles R. Wood Acquisition Fund, and it marks the first major outright purchase of a work of art by The Hyde in a generation, museum officials said.
It is also the first work by Marin (1872-1953) to enter the permanent collection.
Museum officials said Marin was a major figure in early American modernism, best known for his inventive watercolors. His work is held in private collections and prestigious museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum, Dallas Museum of Art, Blanton Museum of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
“Historically, The Hyde has relied on gifts of art, whether through bequest or donation, to grow the collection,” stated Erin Coe, director of The Hyde. “The purchase of this extraordinary Marin watercolor marks a turning point. We strategically identified a work of art that fills a gap in our collection, and we used our acquisitions fund to secure it.
“The fund was established in 2004 with a bequest made by the philanthropist Charles Wood, himself an avid collector of Modern art and someone with strong ties to our region and Lake George. We think he’d be very pleased with the purchase.”
Marin was born in New Jersey, but he was principally based in New York and Maine. Watercolor was his primary medium, and his distinct style, which offered a fluid blend of realism and abstraction, solidified his reputation as a groundbreaking modernist. He was also an avid outdoorsman.
According to the museum, the Lake George painting was done during a formative decade in the artist’s career, when he began to move away from the naturalism of his earlier work into a modernist, cubist-influenced style.
Officials said he completed nine watercolors of Lake George. The majority of these were created in 1928, when Marin visited his friends Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe at their lakeside retreat known as “the Hill.”
The watercolor acquired by The Hyde depicts the artist’s view from Bolton Landing. Interestingly, Marin used the same vantage point often represented by many nineteenth-century Hudson River School painters.
“This watercolor is particularly appropriate for the collection, as it greatly strengthens our holdings of early American Modernism that include an Arthur Dove watercolor and two works on paper by Abraham Walkowitz, both of whom were also members of the Stieglitz circle,” noted Hyde curator Jonathan Canning.
The Hyde Collection is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays.