Marin and modernism on film
March 18, 2010
Gail McCarthy

A new film about the master of American modern art, John Marin (1870-1953), will have its Massachusetts premiere in Gloucester on Sunday at Cape Ann Community Cinema.

“What we know about modern art, abstractionism, and the direction that art has gone since the 1950s, we know because John Marin was the father of it all,” said Michael Maglaras, an independent filmmaker who with Terri Templeton produced the new documentary “John Marin: Let the Paint be Paint.”

A 1948 poll by Look magazine, museum directors, curators and artists voted Marin the foremost painter in America, noted Maglaras. The artist has more than 4,000 recorded works, some of which sell for millions of dollars.

Maglaras came to Gloucester last year when he unveiled a film about American artist Marsden Hartley to a packed house. The Marin film debut here is at the start of the national tour. He has presented the new film to two sold-out houses in Portland, Maine.

This is the first full-length documentary about Marin, said Maglaras. “This film tells the story of one of the most important artistic figures of the first half of the 20th century, and the undisputed father of American Modernism.”

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