Seated Nude, New York City c. 1935

John Marin made this watercolor and charcoal drawing of a nude figure sometime in his New York period. I imagine him in the studio, charcoal in hand, circling the page, trying to pin down the figure and the city emerging in front of him. The figure’s pose is mirrored by the scrappy, jagged skyline. It's as though the buildings are lounging along with her! And those smoky outlines feel like the city breathing, moving. I love the little flower on the table, it’s such a hopeful detail. But what really gets me is how the pink of her skin echoes that yellow wash behind the buildings; it brings the whole composition together. Marin was part of a generation of artists who, like the Fauves, wanted to capture not just what they saw, but how they felt. And you can really feel that here.