37. Reginald Marsh
(1898-1954)
Coney Island Beach (July 13, 1934)

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Marsh, Coney Island Beach

Coney Island Beach (July 13, 1934)

Etching, 1934, 254 x 253 mm., Sasowsky 153 iv/iv (proof no. 1). Fine proof impression on an irregular sheet of wove paper watermarked France, with good margins, with the pencil notation “#1” and signed in pencil; pin holes at the sheet corners and a neatly repaired short tear at the upper right. This is apparently Sasowsky's proof number 1 of the fourth and final state, before the edition of 14, but there are differences in the plate between this proof and the edition, most particularly in the shading above the distant end of the boardwalk. The impression comes from the collection of the composer Carl Ruggles, who was a friend of the artist, and may have been given to Ruggles by Marsh. Marsh, one of the preeminent American artists of his time, and one of the greatest depicters of life in New York City, was the son of American citizens -- but he was born in Paris in an apartment above the Café du Dome. He came to America at the age of two.