Circus Horses

Marin delighted in making rapid sketches of circus animals and performers. Friends recall him drawing furiously with two hands, rarely looking at his paper as he worked. He was intent on capturing the complete sensation of the circus with the simplest means, evoking excitement through touches of color and movement through the rapid, directional gestures of his pencil or crayon. Small graphite and colored-pencil drawings on Mylar, such as this example, suggest how Marin might have made intermediate tracings from his circus sketchbooks, adding more detail and color as he developed an idea for a larger work.