The Whitney Visual Explorer

Artist Biennial

Reginald Marsh

1898–1954

190 works in the collection 47 exhibitions at the Whitney

Biography

With his staccato brushwork and densely packed compositions, Reginald Marsh captured the vitality of New York in the 1930s. Though born into a wealthy family, Marsh set out to portray everyday urban dwellers—pedestrians, subway riders, Coney Island bathers, burlesque performers, and dance-hall workers. Twenty Cent Movie, like many of his compositions, relies on authentic details—here, the precise imagery, wording, and typeface of the movie marketing campaigns—to activate a sense of realism. A prolific and inveterate sketcher, Marsh made extensive drawings for the composition of this painting, which he based on the facade of the Lyric Theater. The meticulously replicated theater exterior that serves as the painting’s backdrop resembles a stage set, in front of which the scene’s figures are poised for action. The women mimic the fashionable styles of Hollywood actresses, while the man on the far right adopts a self-assured posture in the type of flamboyant suit sported by the gangsters of 1930s cinema. In an era when Hollywood movie stars became national celebrities, Marsh’s characters reflect the bright aspirations projected on the silver screen, but the scene is not without reference to the period’s economic turbulence. The painting’s title, Twenty Cent Movie, reiterated on the box-office sign, alludes to the drop in ticket prices at some theaters to entice an audience during the Great Depression.

Works in the collection

Showing the first 60 of 190 works. Browse all 190 →

Exhibitions at the Whitney