St. Paul's, Lower Manhattan (Broadway, St. Paul's Church)
Date1912
Artist
John Marin
(American painter, 1870–1953)
MediumWatercolor on paper
Dimensionssheet: 18 3/16 × 14 3/4 in. (46.2 × 37.5 cm)
Credit LineGift of John L. McHugh, 1957
Object number1957-1
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextWhen John Marin returned to New York City from Europe in 1911, he was fascinated by the construction of the Woolworth Building, an early skyscraper, and the dynamism of Lower Manhattan. During the next few years, he produced a series of watercolors of the Woolworth Building and the nearby, historic St. Paul's Cathedral. These innovative watercolors would be Marin's entries in the Armory Show of 1913, the groundbreaking exhibition that introduced modernism to a broad swath of the American public.Marin’s vision of New York is all about motion. Using angular lines and buildings that appear off-kilter, he captured the frenetic pace of the city. Looking at the foreground, one can imagine the experience of the hurried, jostled figures making their way through the streets of the bustling metropolis.
