THE COMPANY WILL APPRECIATE SUGGESTIONS FROM ITS PATRONS CONCERNING ITS SERVICE

1201-S

CLASS OF SERVICE

This is a full-rate
Telegram or Cable-
gram unless its de-
ferred character is in-
dicated by a suitable
symbol above or pre-
ceding the address.

R. B. WHITE
PRESIDENT

WESTERN
UNION

NEWCOMB CARLTON
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

J. C. WILLEVER
FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT

The filing time shown in the date line on telegrams and day letters is STANDARD TIME at point of origin. Time of receipt is STANDARD TIME at point of destination.

Received at

2FEQW 19

TDGF LAKEGEORGE NY 826P SEP 5 1938

GEORGIA OKEEFE

CARE ANSEL ADAMS YOSEMITE

JUST RECEIVED YOUR TELEGRAM I HOPE ALL GOES WELL AND THAT YOU
HAVE A GRAND TRIP AM WELL LOVE

ALFRED

72 4P

THE QUICKEST, SUREST AND SAFEST WAY TO SEND MONEY IS BY TELEGRAPH OR CABLE

1201-S

CLASS OF SERVICE

R. B. WHITE
PRESIDENT

WESTERN
UNION

SYMBOLS

DL = Day Letter

NM = Night Message

NL = Night Letter

LC = Deferred Cable

NLT = Cable Night Letter

Ship Radiogram

Received at

20FE KE 31

LAKE GEORGE NY 332P SEP 8 1938

GEORGIA OKEEFE

AN ANS CARE ANSEL ADAMS YOSEMITE
WIRE JUST RECEIVED AM GLAD THAT YOU ARE SO DELIGHTED AND HAPPY AND
WELL. HOPE TRIP STARTING SATURDAY WILL BE JUST AS PERFECT. I AM
ALL RIGHT. MUCH LOVE. GREETINGS ADAMS.

ALFRED

155P

WESTERN UNION GIFT ORDERS ARE APPROPRIATE GIFTS FOR ALL OCCASIONS

1201-S

CLASS OF SERVICE

R. B. WHITE
PRESIDENT

WESTERN
UNION

SYMBOLS

DL = Day Letter

NM = Night Message

NL = Night Letter

LC = Deferred Cable

NLT = Cable Night Letter

Ship Radiogram

Received at

T2FE KE 14

GDGF LAKE GEORGE NY 1113A SEP 10 1938

GEORGIA OKEEFE

CARE ANSEL ADAMS YOSEMITE

LOVE TO YOU ALL HOPE YOUR TRIP WILL BE A GREAT SUCCESS AM WELL

ALFRED

908A

65

Georgia O'Keeffe

To Mr. Ansel Adams

VIA AIR MAIL

Yosemite National Park
California,

JOHN MARIN

EXHIBITION OF OILS AND WATER COLORS

NOVEMBER 7 — DECEMBER 27, 1938.

AN AMERICAN PLACE
509 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY

Weekdays: 10 a.m. — 6 p.m. Sundays: 3 — 6 p.m.

DUNCAN PHILLIPS

FROM: PICASSO AND MARIN

John Marin — Born 1870 — American wizard of water color.

The brush writing of John Marin, by means of an inspired wash of water color, in marks almost as heiroglyphic as Chinese script, is unlike the calligraphy of the Oriental painters in that it inherits no prescribed subject matter and no rule for technic. Marin has been a close observer and student of nature's forces and rhythms. His expressionism by means of electric design is no elementary outburst from inner pressures but an inspired outpouring of instinct and intuition after long preparation in nature study and in the dynamics of line. Marin has trained himself in the laws of pictorial balance. The readiness of his objects to move is due to the artist's knowledge of the focus and the axis. He invents as he goes along, often painting Speed. Marin's is an art of frank adventure, with much peril of complete failure but with triumphs worth the risk involved. In the best of his patterns the personality is so fresh and fine that we are in no danger of being satisfied by the splendid ornament, the decorative hieroglyphics of the design or the functioning details of the diagram. And yet, as in Cézanne, no apparently casual touch of color and certainly no direction of line but can be accounted for in the structure. And there is no relation of a large form to a small one which would not be missed if it were taken out or altered.

Marin and Picasso may or may not be the greatest painters of today. But one thing we can say with confidence. They are the most inventive men of art in our period. And they stand out in striking contrast to each other. Picasso makes art out of other art while Marin, ever close to nature's elemental forces, is more interested in the movement of tides than in Art Movements.

the spurs of small islands, and the shapes of tree and clouds; he has
been a student of ships and the moods of the sea; and occasionally, with
an ambition somewhat foreign to his temperament, he has recorded in
terms of design the geometry of the New York skyscrapers. The result
has been an annual production of water-colors which unquestionably will
rank with the best ever done in this department of art . . .

Marin's painting is in no sense intellectual; primarily it is a matter
of strong feelings and vivid impressions, an art of subtle arrangements
and omissions, akin to Whistler and Monet, though strengthened a little
by an acquaintance with Cézanne. One has only to compare it with a
truly composed art, that of Claude Lorrain, for instance, to realize
the difference between the classic and the romantic points of view. A
landscape by Lorrain is not merely an interpretation of nature but a
reconstruction as well; it is a symbol of the artist's experiences; based
on a fine perception of relationships in which line is arrayed against line,
contour added to contour, and mass superimposed upon mass, it attests
with power and precision the structural unity of great art. But it would
be unjust to Marin to say that his water-colors represent only sensuous
reactions to optical phenomena — his poetical concern with trees, waves,
and skies is charged with solid conviction, with the desire to project
meanings into his pictures. If this were not true his drawing would
be nothing more than clever illustration. His ideas are vague, but as a
musician of moods and nuances he is unrivaled. The lapses of form
characterizing all of his painting, that is, the slurring of unmanageable
spaces, cannot be attributed to naturalistic impulses — he has set him-
self to emphasize what he regards and feels as significant in his immediate
impressions. He is not of those who build sequences of forms, who
reconstruct the world in a philosophic order; but, on the other hand, he
is not trying to play a losing game with the camera, and to imitate with
expert mechanics little corners of atmosphere.

With the close of the first cycle of modernism, Marin finds himself in
an anomalous position. Of all Americans who have come to the front in
that remarkable plastic revival emanating from Cézanne, he is the most
finished and mature — yet he is practically without influence. Younger
painters disapprove of his poetry, and assert that his conceptions are
wanting in measure, completeness, and design. As regards the poetry,
I can only say that it is his most valuable asset. In truth, his pictures
are held together by the warmth and fervor of his first impressions, and
without the poetic content even his supreme technical skill could not

raise his water-colors above the level of descriptive sketches. It is
only the narrow-minded advocates of lifeless abstractions who object to
poetry in art. Design is another matter. It is through this constructive
element that the hand of man enters art, that painting is humanized and
differentiated from the lawless world of nature. Design, of course,
being a product of reason and imagination, robs art of its spontaneity
and freshness; and those who prefer these qualities, with the added charm
of color and fine workmanship, will continue to back Marin against the
intellectuals.

JOHN MARIN: PAINTINGS

CATALOGUE

EXHIBITION: NOVEMBER 7 — DECEMBER 27, 1938

WATER COLORS and OILS painted in the region of South Addison,
Maine.

Water Colors: 1 to 16 inclusive .................................................... 1937

1 Water Color (Witch wood and Moose wood) .................................... 1938

4 Oils .................... 1938

2 Oils and a Still Life painted at Cliffside, New Jersey.

Magnolias

Mountain Laurel .................................................................................... 1938

And possibly a Portrait and Two Boats .................................................... 1938

IT HAS BEEN SAID

SERIES II

Number I

AN AMERICAN PLACE

509 MADISON AVENUE

NEW YORK CITY

5