Reginald Marsh
Opera Box
1936

Name: Opera Box
Brand: Reginald Marsh
Price: 5500 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Reginald Marsh (1898-1954), Opera Box, 1936, engraving, signed, numbered and annotated in pencil (State II 4/5, “to Dolsy and Eddie”); one of only 11 proofs. Reference: Sasowsky 162, second state of three. In very good condition, with wide margins (not shown in the illustration, and also somewhat uneven, as trimmed by the artist), 7 x 5, the sheet 9 3/4 x 7 1/4 inches, archival mounting. A superb black impression of this very rare print. Only five impressions were made of this print in this state (one of the first state, and five of the third; eleven altogether). The design was basically complete in the first state, some shadows behind the men’s heads added in the second state, and only minor additions made for the third state. Marsh may have intended a larger edition (of 40 according to his notebook), but as with virtually all of his prints, the actual number printed – by Marsh personally – was far smaller than the intended edition. This impression was printed by Marsh after the impression now in the New York Public Library, which is the repository of his wife’s collection. Opera Box was made at the height of the Great Depression; one suspects that Marsh – Yale graduate though he was – was making a statement about the distribution of suffering at the time. And of course the serious artist comes through too; Marsh had studied not only The Eight – the Americans Henri, Sloan, Glackens et al – but also had great reverence for, and familiarity with the work of the European masters of the Renaissance and Baroque, as well as printmakers such as Daumier and Hogarth. The incisiveness of these portraits is accentuated by the incisiveness of the method he employs in this print – engraving – a difficult technique, but one which works perfectly to model this group portrait.

Creator:

Reginald Marsh (1898-1954, American)

Creation Year:

1936

Medium:

Engraving

Movement & Style:

Realist

Period:

1930-1939

Condition:

Gallery Location:

New York, NY

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU51531489473

View Invoice

Shop All Reginald Marsh

Reginald Marsh

Reginald Marsh was born in Paris, France, in 1898. His family returned to the U.S. in 1900, settling in New Jersey. The Marsh family moved to New Rochelle, New York, in 1914, where Reginald attended the Riverview Military Academy until 1915. Marsh spent his senior year at the Lawrenceville School where he drew for the school's annual. Marsh then attended Yale School of Art in 1916–20 where he became the star illustrator for The Yale Record and, later, its art editor. In his newspaper work Marsh exhibited a graphic skill and a gift for pictorial humor.

On graduating from Yale in 1920, Marsh moved to New York City where he supported himself as a freelance illustrator for newspapers and magazines, such as Vanity Fair and Harper's Bazaar. In 1922, Marsh became a staff artist for The Daily News, first drawing city life and then a column of vaudeville illustrations. When The New Yorker began in 1925, Marsh became a staff member, contributing through 1931. These illustration jobs provided Marsh with a good income and a great amount of free time, which allowed him to study painting at the Art Students League on and off through the 1920s with Kenneth Hayes Miller, John Sloan and George Luks. When Marsh began to paint in earnest in 1923, he joined the Whitney Studio Club, where he had one-man exhibitions in 1924 and 1928.

In the early 1920s Marsh made his first trip to Coney Island on a project for Vanity Fair. He was instantly drawn to the raucous environment of extremes, capturing the boardwalks, beaches and sideshows in his sketchbooks. Marsh often remained in New York for the summer to spend time at Coney Island. The rest of the year Marsh painted industrial subjects. He also enjoyed recording the physical and social life of a newly commercialized city, focusing on taxi-dance halls, burlesque, Coney Island, subways and the Bowery.

In 1929 Marsh took a studio near Union Square in New York where he remained for most of his life, roaming the streets with his sketchbook. The same sketches he worked up for his newspaper and magazine illustrations found their way into his paintings.

The 1930s and 1940s were very successful for Marsh. He exhibited in most of the annual exhibitions of contemporary American art at the Whitney Museum of American Art (1924–54), the Corcoran Gallery of Art (1932–57), the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1932–52), the Art Institute of Chicago (1928–49) and the National Academy of Design (1927–49). He also had many one-man exhibitions at the Frank K. Rehn Galleries in New York.

Marsh began teaching at the Art Students League in 1935 where he soon became one of the most popular teachers. In the spring of 1954, Marsh was chosen to receive the gold medal of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, an extremely high award in the American cultural world.

Find original Reginald Marsh prints, drawings and paintings on 1stDibs.