Mountains and Lake c. 1924

Editor: So, here we have John Marin’s "Mountains and Lake" from around 1924. It's a drawing done in colored pencil, mostly blues and greens. It's simple, but striking. What’s your interpretation of this work? Curator: For me, this piece screams materiality. Look at the colored pencil strokes, raw and exposed. It highlights the labor and the immediate physical act of the drawing. Forget about illusionism; Marin prioritizes the process and what colored pencils on paper can actually *do*. Editor: Interesting. I was more drawn to the landscape elements, even with the abstraction. Do you see a conscious reference to any social context of that time reflected in this kind of technique? Curator: Absolutely! The rise of industrialization was causing societal anxiety about handcrafted objects, shifting from traditional art forms to more abstract creations. By laying bare his method, Marin subtly resisted mass production’s anonymity and celebrated human agency and labor involved in the creative act itself. How are *these* specific pencils made and marketed, and how did the *availability* of colored pencils shape the creative choices here? Editor: Wow, that’s a perspective I hadn’t considered. It redefines what we can call “high art”, right? Curator: Exactly. By emphasizing the ‘lowly’ colored pencil, he’s questioning the traditional hierarchy and boundaries. It is not necessarily the view of mountains and a lake as something precious that counts here. What we need to analyze is that Marin shows an act of making marks that suggests the human interaction with the colored pencils is actually more valuable and compelling. Editor: So, rather than an idyllic scene, it's a celebration of making. Thank you for sharing! Curator: My pleasure! Materiality helps us appreciate a whole range of other perspectives.