A ‘slice of life’ street painter.

The American painter Reginald Marsh (1898-1954) was born in Paris but grew up in New Jersey. Back when Americans could still afford the best American education he graduated from Lawrenceville prep school, and went on to Yale where he drew cartoons for the school’s student paper.

His genre of choice was that of street scenes, more often than not portraying the lower classes in locations like Coney Island. New York was very much his canvas.

Battery Park, 1926.

H. Dummeyer Bar and Grill, probably 1940s.

Coney_Island, 1930

Pavonia, Jersey City, 1928.

Coney Island. Pursuit, 1936.

The Normandie, 1953.

The cartoon ethic is always there to be seen. It’s no surprise that Marsh was a major inspiration for the best gangster movie made, Sergio Leone’s ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ set, naturally, in New York City.

Here’s what I’m talking about:

An electric crowd scene in the Jewish quarter, Prohibition-era NYC, from Sergio Leone’s movie.