Schoelkopf Gallery is the exclusive worldwide representative of the John Marin Foundation.

The present watercolor retains its original George Of frame.

Bare Poles, Two-Master, Maine exemplifies the experimentation in mark-making and virtuosity in watercolor for which John Marin drew great critical acclaim. Marin produced his first watercolors in 1888 and later became known internationally as a master of the medium. In Bare Poles, Two-Master, Maine, soft boundaries between shapes and washes of color reveal the paper support. Here, Marin experimented with a visual framing device in the form of an irregular black border and red wash, evocative of a stage curtain, drawing further attention to the paper support and reinforcing the work as an object, not simply a window into another world.

The phrase "bare poles" refers to when a ship's sails are taken in due to inclement weather. However, while the present work deftly reflects the primal forces of the Maine coast that captivated Marin and inspired his work, Marin juxtaposed conflicting signifiers of weather—the bright sunset-hued horizon conflicts with the dark and turbulent sea. The presence of dual temporal forces enabled Marin to experiment with a wealth of painterly techniques and increasingly modernist forms. Marin's commitment to depicting the powerful, primal forces of the ocean directly links him to Winslow Homer, the 19th Century master renowned for his Maine scenes. Ralph Flint, an art critic from the New York Sun, described Marin as "the lineal descendant of the master of Prout's Neck." [1] Marin was often cited as Homer's successor, yet the energy, expression, and physicality that Marin instilled in his oeuvre would push past modernism and find its own descendants in the next generation of Abstract Expressionists.

[1] Ralph Flint, "John Marin Blazes New Trails," New York Sun, January 16, 1937, p. 31 quoted in Martha Tedeschi, John Marin's Watercolors: A Medium for Modernism (Art Institute of Chicago, 2010), p. 162.