"John Marin was born in Rutherford, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby Weehawken. He attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, studying with Thomas Anshutz, then studied at the Art Students League in New York, and from 1905 to 1909, studied in Europe.

In Paris, he associated with the Fauvist circle. John Marin earned a reputation for abstract watercolor paintings influenced by Cubism and Futurism.

He was one of the Taos, New Mexico Colony painters in the late 1920s, and his work is credited as an important precedent to Abstract Expressionism. Because he was so respected nationally, his use of watercolor in New Mexico set a precedent for others painting there."