Marsh’s urban scenes of Depression era New York highlighted the hobos of the Bowery, where he frequently sketched. Using a brown palette for The Bowery, Marsh painted a crowded scene of down and out men standing along Bowery Street, surrounded by signage, and with the Third Avenue elevated railway seen above. In 1929, Thomas Hart Benton introduced Marsh, a colleague and close friend, to the medium of egg tempera, and from 1929 to 1940 tempera became his preferred medium for such major works as The Bowery. Like Benton, Marsh’s rhythmic and often bawdy compositions were influenced by Renaissance and Baroque masters. They were nonetheless deeply rooted in the harsh realities of 1930s America.
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Inscription: Signed and dated (along bottom right): Reginald Marsh / 1930
the artist, New York (1930–32; sold through Frank K. M. Rehn, New York to MMA)
New York. Frank K. M. Rehn Galleries. "Exhibition by Reginald Marsh," October 27–November 15, 1930.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Forty-Fourth Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture," October 29–December 13, 1931, no. 121 (as "Bowery"; awarded the M. V. Kohnstamm Prize of $250).
Art Institute of Chicago. "Half a Century of American Art," November 16, 1939–January 7, 1940, no. 109.
WPA Art Center, Jacksonville, Fla. "Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 1–31, 1941, no catalogue.
Omaha. Joslyn Memorial. "Contemporary American Paintings," June 23–September 1, 1941, no catalogue.
London. Tate Gallery. "American Painting from the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day," June 14–August 5, 1946.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "20th Century Painters: A Special Exhibition of Oils, Water Colors and Drawings Selected from the Collections of American Art in the Metropolitan Museum," June 16–October 29, 1950, unnum. brochure (p. 8).
Los Angeles. Pan Pacific Auditorium. "National Construction Industries Home Show Exposition," June 14–24, 1951 [extended to August 31, 1951], no catalogue.
New York. Gallery of Modern Art. "Reginald Marsh: The Beach, the Burlesque and the Bowery," December 1, 1964–January 17, 1965, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Three Centuries of American Painting," April 9–October 17, 1965, unnum. checklist.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors from the Museum's Collections," October 1–December 7, 1969, no catalogue.
Bronx County Courthouse. "Paintings from the Metropolitan, Pinturas del Metropolitano," May 12–June 13, 1971, no. 11.
Allentown, Penn. Allentown Art Museum. "The City in American Painting," January 20–March 4, 1973, unnumbered cat. (p. 23).
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. "Reginald Marsh: Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition," November 4–28, 1973, unnumbered cat. (p. 2).
Moscow. State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. "Representations of America," December 15, 1977–February 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Leningrad. State Hermitage Museum. "Representations of America," March 15–May 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Minsk, Belarus. Palace of Art. "Representations of America," June 15–August 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Detroit. Flint Institute of Arts. "Art of the Twenties: American Painting at the Crossroads," November 16, 1978–January 21, 1979, no. 34.
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. "Peinture américaine, 1920–1940 (Amerikaanse schilderkunst, 1920–1940)," November 10–December 30, 1979, no. 119.
Bronx Museum of the Arts. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 2–March 24, 1985, unnum. brochure.
Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 17–June 2, 1985, unnum. brochure.
Queens. Jamaica Arts Center. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 15–July 27, 1985, unnum. brochure.
Staten Island Museum. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 8–October 20, 1985, unnum. brochure.
New York. City College of New York. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 25–December 13, 1985, unnum. brochure.
Roslyn Harbor, N. Y. Nassau County Museum of Art. "American Realism Between the Wars, 1919 to 1941," April 10–June 5, 1994, unnumbered cat. (fig. 7).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "New York," September 1995–January 1996, no catalogue.
Roslyn Harbor, N. Y. Nassau County Museum of Art. "Old New York and Artists of the Period 1900–1941," August 19–November 4, 2001, unnumbered cat. (p. 27).
Roslyn Harbor, N. Y. Nassau County Museum of Art. "Reginald Marsh and Infamous New York," February 19–May 14, 2006, unnumbered cat. (p. 14).
New-York Historical Society. "Swing Time: Reginald Marsh and Thirties New York," June 21–September 2, 2013, unnumbered cat. (fig. 29).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Thomas Hart Benton’s 'America Today' Mural Rediscovered," September 30, 2014–April 19, 2015, no catalogue (see MMA Bulletin 72, Winter 2015).
Roslyn Harbor, N.Y. Nassau County Museum of Art. "New York, New York," July 22–November 5, 2017, no catalogue.
"Art News and Comment." New York Herald Tribune (November 2, 1930), p. G7.
"Chicago's Annual Draws Eyes of Fighters for American Art." Art Digest 6 (November 1, 1931), p. 14, ill. p. 3.
"The Forty-Fourth Annual American Exhibition." Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 25 (December 1931), p. 121, ill. p. 127.
"The Previewer." Chicago Daily News (November 4, 1931).
"The Forty-fourth Annual at Chicago." American Magazine of Art 23, no. 6 (December 1931), p. 487, ill. p. 490.
"New York Artists Win Chicago Show Prizes." New York Times (October 30, 1931), p. 2.
C. J. Bulliet. "The Annual Exhibition at Chicago Art Institute." New York Times (November 8, 1931), p. XX12, ill.
Edward Alden Jewell. "The Metropolitan's New Policy: Recent Acquisition of Fifteen Works by Native Living Artists Symptomatic of Revised Trend—Is the Group Representative?" New York Times (June 26, 1932), p. X6, ill.
Edward Alden Jewell. "Art in Review: Metropolitan Buys Oils." New York Times (June 16, 1932), p. 19.
B[ryson]. B[urroughs]. "Notes: Contemporary American Paintings." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 27 (July 1932), p. 181, notes that it is currently on view in the museum's Room of Recent Accessions.
"Metropolitan Buys Nine Paintings by American Artists." Art News 30 (July 16, 1932), p. 4.
Carlyle Burrows. "Many Painters, Varied Modes Seen in Brooklyn Group Show; Nine American Paintings." New York Herald Tribune (June 19, 1932), p. F8.
"Metropolitan Buys 9 Recent U.S. Paintings." New York Herald Tribune (June 16, 1932), p. 14.
"Works of Contemporary Americans Acquired by Metropolitan." New York Herald Tribune (June 26, 1932), p. G4, ill.
Daniel Catton Rich. Half a Century of American Art. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1939, pp. xvii, 32, no. 4, pl. LVIII.
"FSCW to Sponsor Exhibit of Art at Jacksonville." Tallahassee Democrat (February 27, 1941), p. 10.
Leonard Thiessen. "Art." Sunday World-Herald Omaha (July 20, 1941), p. 7-C.
Edward Alden Jewell. "Americans at the Tate." New York Times (August 25, 1946), ill. p. 56.
Robert Beverly Hale. 100 American Painters of the 20th Century: Works Selected from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1950, ill. p. 38.
"H. E. Winlock, Ex-Head of Art Museum, Dead." New York Herald Tribune (January 27, 1950), p. 16.
Arthur Millier. "Art Masterpieces Lent for Exhibit." Los Angeles Times (June 17, 1951), p. 11.
Lloyd Morris. Incredible New York: High Life and Low Life of the Last Hundred Years. New York, 1951, ill.
Herbert Asbury. "A Century of New York Crowds and Carnival." New York Times (November 25, 1951), ill. p. 245, reviews Ref. Morris 1951.
Dorothy Adlow. "Metropolitan's New Look." Christian Science Monitor (October 26, 1957), p. 10.
Kennett Love. "Nehru, at Museum, Drops Art Neutrality." New York Times (October 7, 1960), p. 15.
Henry Geldzahler. American Painting in the Twentieth Century. New York, 1965, pp. 104–5, ill.
James F. Pilgrim. Paintings from the Metropolitan, Pinturas del Metropolitano. Exh. cat., Bronx County Courthouse. New York, 1971, unpaginated, no. 11.
Lloyd Goodrich. Reginald Marsh. New York, 1972, p. 48.
Sam Hunter and John Jacobus. American Art of the 20th Century: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. New York, 1973, fig. 310.
Marshall B. Davidson. The American Heritage History of the Artists' America. New York, 1973, p. 304, ill.
Milton W. Brown et al. American Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Decorative Arts, Photography. New York, 1979, p. 450, pl. 482.
"Artist of the Depression Years: Portfolio of Reginald Marsh." American History Illustrated 16 (January 1982), ill. front cover (color detail), p. 24 (color overall).
Paul Richard. "Mixing It Up At the Metropolitan: Standards & Surprises at the Museum's New Wallace Wing." Washington Post (February 1, 1987), p. F9.
Lisa Mintz Messinger inAfrican-American Artists, 1929–1945: Prints, Drawings, and Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2003, p. 12, fig. 2.
Benjamin Genocchio. "Art Review: Glimpses of Realism." New York Times (February 26, 2006), p. L17.
Barbara Haskell inSwing Time: Reginald Marsh and Thirties New York. Ed. Barbara Haskell. Exh. cat., New-York Historical Society. New York, 2013, p. 40, fig. 29 (color).
Reginald Marsh (American, Paris 1898–1954 Dorset, Vermont)
ca. 1931
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