Sailboat

Noting Marin’s eye for watercraft, one contemporary critic went so far as to subtitle an article on the artist “Yachtsmen and Painters Alike Unite in Their Praise of Marin Sailboats.” Marin himself adopted the schooner image as a kind of personal talisman, incorporating it into his works in all media, including this simple yet striking 1932 etching. That the schooner motif took on a symbolic role for him is also suggested by the frequency with which he began enclosing it within drawn or painted boxes and borders, sometimes superimposing these like collaged decals onto larger compositions.