Reginald Marsh painted the city’s extremes: gaudy, seedy Coney Island, sex at burlesque shows, Bowery revelry, and the might and strength symbolized by ships and industry.
But his solemn forgotten man (and a second man, lying down on the left) perched at the edge of a dock in 1938’s “Docks, Brooklyn” reveals a loneliness and despair unlike anything depicted in his other paintings and illustrations.
And it just sold for more than $6,000.
Tags: Brooklyn in 1930s, Depression New York City, Forgetten men New York, NYC in the 1930s, NYC skyline dock East River, Reginald Marsh, Reginald Marsh Brooklyn
Ephemeral New York 
April 11, 2016 at 12:33 pm |
There are 2 forgottten men – the second is lying down on the left side of the painting.
April 11, 2016 at 1:35 pm |
Thank you. Either I need new reading light, or that was Marsh’s sly intent–to render one man almost visually forgotten.
April 11, 2016 at 7:54 pm |
These wonderful paintings you post become my desktop background on my office computer, until the next one. Thank you.
April 11, 2016 at 8:09 pm |
Glad to hear it!
April 11, 2016 at 10:54 pm |
Great post. Marsh is one of the great American painters, doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. Thanks for highlighting this gem.
April 12, 2016 at 12:16 pm |
What a beautiful painting. I think that $6250 was a bargain. Surprised Marsh’s watercolors do not sell for much more than that.
April 12, 2016 at 2:49 pm |
I have the good fortune of working in a building with Marsh murals. They are titled “Sorting the Mail” and “Loading the Mail”. They, along with several other murals by other artists, are in the William Jefferson Clinton Building which is the former USPS headquarters.
April 20, 2016 at 7:07 am |
When will we ever cease naming our landmarks after living politicians?
It’s as bad as naming our aircraft carriers after presidents. Ugh!
August 22, 2016 at 8:07 am |
[…] Rubens, she became associated with the 14th Street School, a group of realist artists that included Reginald Marsh and Raphael […]