Coney Island Beach

Reginald Marsh

1935 · Etching and engraving · Drawings and Prints

New Yorkers’ pursuit of pleasure, whether it be at burlesque theaters, dance halls, the opera, or the beach, preoccupied Marsh throughout his career. He was particularly drawn to Coney Island, producing numerous images of the Brooklyn beach and adjacent amusement park. In the mid-1920s, he began creating elaborate compositions made up of figures whose bodies are rendered from various perspectives—a direct result of encountering Renaissance and Baroque art during a trip to Europe. In discussing the rowdy beachgoers at Coney Island, Marsh remarked that he was transfixed by the "crowds of people in all directions, in all positions, without clothing, moving—like the great compositions of Michelangelo and Rubens. I failed to find anything like it in Europe."

Artist

Reginald Marsh

Date

1935

Medium

Etching and engraving

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of The Honorable William Benton, 1959