Books by Ann Prentice Wagner, PhD
John Marin was a major figure among the cutting-edge circle of American modernist artists who showed his work in Alfred Stieglitz’s New York galleries from 1909 until 1950. A new collection of the artist’s work at the Arkansas Arts Center, given by Marin’s daughter-in-law, forms the basis of this first book of essays and images to concentrate on Marin’s drawings in the context of Marin’s life, his watercolors, and his etchings. The volume is edited and includes an essay by Ann Prentice Wagner, the Curator who brought the collection to life with a major exhibition in 2018.
We follow Marin to his most famous subject matter: New York City and the coast of Maine. Foundational drawings and an unfinished watercolor of the towering Woolworth Building, still under construction when they were made in 1912, begin the story of a renowned group of watercolors first exhibited in 1913 at Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 Gallery and then at the ground-breaking 1913 Armory Show. Other images take us to lesser-known locales, such as the Ramapo Mountains in New York and New Jersey where Marin often painted when he couldn’t get to Maine. More obscure aspects of the artist’s career explored in this collection include portraits of friends and family, charming drawings of animals, and circus scenes.
Becoming John Marin invites readers to look over this important artist’s shoulder as he created and honed the sketches he would interpret into completed watercolors and etchings, illustrating the evolution of his style and methods as he transformed from intuitive draftsman to innovative modernist watercolorist and etcher.
We know Herman Maril (United States, 1908-1986) through his paintings, drawings and prints – spare but evocative modernist images of the Maryland countryside, street corners in his home city of Baltimore, his family’s homes, and the Cape Cod shores where he spent his summers. A well-respected artist and University of Maryland professor of art, Maril is best known for his oil paintings. However, this exhibition focuses on the large and important body of art he created on paper throughout his career. The drawings, watercolors, acrylic paintings on paper, and prints featured in this exhibition came into being in the context of the artist’s oil paintings, and were generously loaned to the Gallery by the Herman Maril Foundation. Ann Prentice Wagner conducted in depth research to tell Herman Maril’s story in the book and the exhibition. She was the first Maril scholar to tap into the extensive archival resources of the Herman Maril Foundation, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Archives of American Art.
Herman Maril: the Strong Forms of Our Experience can be purchased from:
The University of Maryland Art Gallery
1202 Parren J. Mitchell Art-Sociology Building
3834 Campus Drive
College Park, MD 20742
(301) 405-2763
During the Great Depression, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised a “new deal for the American people,” initiating government programs to foster economic recovery. Roosevelt’s pledge to help “the forgotten man” also embraced America’s artists. The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) enlisted artists to capture “the American Scene” in works of art that would embellish public buildings across the country. Although it lasted less than one year, from December 1933 to June 1934, the PWAP provided employment for thousands of artists, giving them an important role in the country’s recovery. Their legacy, captured in more than fifteen thousand artworks, helped “the American Scene” become America seen.
1934: A New Deal for Artists examines more than fifty paintings in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum created under the auspices of the Public Works of Art Project. With an introductory essay by Roger Kennedy, and individual entries written by Ann Prentice Wagner, the book celebrates the seventy-fifth anniversary of the PWAP and explores the thematic concerns and artistic styles of artists who, with the nation, endured economic uncertainty and saw the first major programs of their kind that introduced government patronage for art in the United States.
An inspiring resource
About Becoming John Marin: “Brimming with new scholarship and excellent illustrations, this book is an inspiring resource for practicing artists, scholars, and Modern art enthusiasts everywhere.”
– Martha Tedeschi, Cabot Director of the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts