Reginald Marsh (1898-1954)

Urban realist painter, graphic artist, printer, teacher, illustrator, cartoonist, and educator Reginald Marsh was born in Paris to American artist parents. He grew up in Nutley, New Jersey and New Rochelle, New York. He studied at Yale University and the Art Students’ League. He also spent time studying in Paris in the 1920s. Back in the States, he studied with the Ashcan School painter George Luks. Watercolor and egg tempera were favorite media of the artist. A staff artist for the New York Daily News, he also freelanced for magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire, the New Yorker, and the Magazine of Art. Marsh was an important figure of the Depression era in New York City. He became well-known for his city scenes of amusement parks, subways, vaudeville, night clubs and burlesque, as well as harbor and railyard scenes. He taught at the Art Students’ League for over twenty years and also at the Moore Institute of Art, Science and Industry in Philadelphia. He was a member of the National Academy of Design. Marsh’s work is found in many museum collections, including: the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art; Art Institute of Chicago; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. His work also appears on WPA murals, including one at the U.S. Post Office in Washington, DC.