Campiello San Rocco

In printing this etching, Marin wiped the plate clean in the area of the closest facade, lifting out the geometric building blocks of his composition. The artist’s selection of a translucent Japanese paper heightens the play of light across the bright areas, further differentiating the various surface planes. This kind of subtractive printing methodology would prove increasingly important in Marin’s later etchings, and it parallels his watercolor habit of lifting out pigment to leave subliminal veils of color. In their lively play of lines and selective use of tone, his Venice etchings reveal his preoccupation with conjuring the dynamic experience of seeing.