Coney Island Beach
Reginald Marsh American
Not on view
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."
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