Filmmakers Michael Maglaras and Terri Templeton of 217 Films will screen their new Maine-made documentary “John Marin: Let the Paint be Paint!” at the Stonington Opera House on Wednesday, June 23 at 7:00pm.
“Marin’s summers in Stonington were a great inspiration to him,” noted Maglaras. “With the exception of 1929 and 1930, he spent every summer painting in Stonington and elsewhere in the area during the years 1919 through 1933…when he discovered Cape Split in South Addison. This is very significant, because it was on the Maine coast where he created his most profoundly beautiful work.”
Three watercolors of Stonington feature prominently in the film, including a panoramic view of the village titled “Stonington, 1923,” a 1924 downtown street scene, and a painting of a cottage Marin rented with his family.
Utilizing more than 70 of Marin’s paintings, drawings, and etchings, including works in the private collection of the Marin estate which have seldom been exhibited, Maglaras tells the story of Marin’s life, from his beginnings in New Jersey, and his early experiments in watercolor, to his summers in Stonington where he began to reexperiment with oils, and, at last, at his summer home and studio on Cape Split in Addison, where, with his late oils, he established himself as one of the preeminent masters of American art.
“John Marin: Let the Paint be Paint!” follows Marin’s development as a man and as an artist, from his early years as a young architect struggling with his own artistic identity, to his first moments of self-discovery as an etcher and painter, to his final years as the painter and man (in his eighties) whose unending quest for the new never ceased, and who served as the creative example to painters as diverse as Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock.
WHAT: Screening of new documentary “John Marin: Let the Paint be Paint!” Director Michael Maglaras will introduce the film.
WHEN: Wednesday, June 23 at 7:00pm
WHERE: Stonington Opera House, 1 School St., Stonington, Maine
TICKETS: $6 for adults
FMI: 207-367-2788
www.operahousearts.org
“John Marin: Let the Paint be Paint!” is currently on a national tour. Upcoming screenings include:
July 3: National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Aug. 7: Schoodic Arts Festival, Winter Harbor, Maine
Oct. 22: The Grand, Ellsworth, Maine
Image credits for the above paintings:
“Stonington, 1923” by John Marin, watercolor and charcoal on paper, 21 3/4 in. x 26 1/4 in. Courtesy of Colby College Museum of Art, gift of John Marin Jr. and Norma B. Marin.
“Stonington, 1924” by John Marin, watercolor, charcoal and crayon on paper, 13 3/4 in. x 17 in. Courtesy of Colby College Museum of Art, gift of John Marin Jr. and Norma B. Marin in Honor of Hugh J. Gourley III.
