Street Movement, New York City

1932

In a group of New York City street scenes from the 1930s, John Marin reverted to a more conventionally Cubist compositional technique better suited to the geometries of urban architecture than to rural landscapes or coastal views. In these works, drawing and watercolor are almost equally balanced: heavy outlines of planar forms, including the stylized shapes of moving figures, are enhanced by earth-toned washes that lend them relative depth.