Movement: Fifth Avenue, John Marin, 1912
John Marin, portraitJohn MarinAmerican, 1870–1953

Movement: Fifth Avenue

1912 · Drawing and Watercolor

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Movement: Fifth Avenue” now? Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.

Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked
In this state since
Source
The museum

About the work

In this groundbreaking watercolor, the spire of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral appears on the left, and the Forty- Fourth Street clock is on the right. To communicate his excitement over the buildings, Marin aggressively blotted and reapplied color to build up tonal planes. Combining staccato marks to denote windows with soft, wet applications in the sky, he added long vertical stokes conveying the upward lift of the structures. Making the road in the foreground arc up as if the earth itself were heaving, he surrounded the dark blue patches and lines with slivers of bright white paper. Overhead, the pink rays of the sun, like the hands of the clock, leave the unmistakable impression of New York at midmorning.

Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0

Details

Accession number
1949.554

In the catalog

Sources

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On view at Art Institute of Chicago

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