By Karen Bloom
The retrospective captures Marsh's New York in all - from the glamour to the mundane. From the upper crust elite to ordinary working people, it all caught Marsh's eye. Marsh's work was not social protest, instead his attractions to New York's highs and lows stemmed from his wish to portray colorful and sometimes ugly subjects. Turning his back on the modernism of the early 20th century, Marsh, who's paintings from the 1930s through the 50s, portrayed a New York brimming with life, vitality and sexuality. The Bowery, 14th Street, burlesque halls, saloons, subways, movie theaters, and beaches - especially Coney Island - were all grist for Marsh's mill. He adapted the techniques of Rubens, Titan, Rembrandt, and others of the past to create beautiful paintings of New York's most colorful sites and flamboyant characters."Robert Marsh painted wonderful scenes of New York," said NCMA Director Constance Schwartz, during a conversation about the exhibit. "High society and low brow, he painted it all as an observer. He recorded what he saw, without being emotionally involved." Marsh, one of the leading 20th century American artists recording urban life. began his artistic career as a newspaper illustrator. After studying in Paris, in 1925 and 1926, he devoted himself to painting. Linked with the Reginald Marsh exhibit, is another exhibition, "Infamous New York: Bosses, Burlesque & Mayhem, an examination of how New York's vital character of notoriety arose from the tensions wrought by crowding, crime, corruption and mayhem, from the end of World War I into the 1950s, as New York evolved into a world capital. This exhibition explores events in painting, graphics and photography. These two original exhibits offer visitors a glimpse of a bygone New York, a time before television, computers and other mass media began to "homogenize" Americans, a time that we now look back to as somehow friendlier and simpler but which, as we will see in these two important exhibitions, was fraught with many of the urban concerns that involve us to this day.The exhibits are shown side by side. "It's an opportunity to view New York City from two points of view," explained Schwartz. Some of the art is dealing with social issues that are really tough. It's going to make people think. You'll look at a painting, and get caught up in the beauty and think about what's going on."As always, in conjunction with the exhibit, NCMA is presenting special public programs to enhance the viewing experience. These four "Tea and Tour" events (Mar. 8, 22 and 29, and Apr. 5), in which private tour of the exhibits are followed by teas in the Museum Cafe.
"Reginal Marsh" & "Infamous New York: Bosses, Burlesque & Mayhem"
Now through May 14 at Nassau County Museum of Art. Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission: $10 adult: $8 seniors 62 and older: $4 children 12 and older. Docent-led tours offered at 2 p.m. daily except Sunday; no reservations needed. One Museum Dr. (off Northern Blvd.), Roslyn Harbor.
(516) 484-9337 or www.nassaumuseum.com.
