2015.10
Smokehounds
Artist
Reginald Marsh
(3/14/1898 - 7/3/1954)
Title
Smokehounds
Creation Date
1935
Century
20th century
Dimensions
11 7/8 in. (30.16 cm)
Object Type
print
Creation Place
North America, United States
Medium and Support
etching on paper
Credit Line
Museum Purchase, Barbara Cooney Porter Fund
Copyright
This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s
Copyright Terms and Conditions.
Accession Number
2015.10
Never without a sketchbook, Reginald Marsh created nearly one thousand paintings and more than two hundred prints by the end of his life. The social reality Marsh depicted in much of this work was decidedly lower class--at odds with his own background, education, and economic position. In Smokehounds, a few men help another who is likely intoxicated by "smoke," a cheap and sometimes lethal alcohol sold in Bowery saloons. During the day, this lower Manhattan neighborhood was a thriving commercial hub, which included restaurant supply businesses and the diamond district. By night, however, it was a center of transience, homelessness and vice. With the Third Avenue El tracks looming above, Marsh's streetscape--with bar, restaurant and mission for the homeless--suggests the presence of human benevolence within an environment associated with struggle. The dark reality acknowledged by Marsh's images limited their appeal among popular audiences, though art collectors and exhibiting institutions supported his work. "My pictures have too much shock in them for a lot of people--especially women--to hang on the walls at home," Marsh noted. "They don't want to be reminded in their living rooms and bedrooms of the people they see--or don't see--walking on the streets of New York. Makes them feel uncomfortable."
