"Pertaining to Fifth Avenue and Forty-Second Street" by John Marin

John Marin's paintings do more than just illustrate a scene, they tell a story. They're filled with kinetic energy. We’ll be touching on kinetic energy as part of visual storytelling in Sketch in the City, Class 3. 

"Pertaining to Fifth Avenue and Forty-Second Street." (1933) by John Marin

Below is how the painting looks when you drop the color and highlight the compositional lines.

 

The painting is full of diagonals and looks chaotic. The figures are angular and look stiff, almost rigid. They also seem to be vibrating. Put it all together and you can feel how the busy it is in the middle of the street.

For my money, there's a lot you can learn from this painting. And many of these lessons can be easily applied to urban sketching.