Reginald Marsh

Bread Line - No One Has Starved
1932

A detailed black and white etching by Reginald Marsh from 1934 depicting a crowded line of men in overcoats and hats, standing closely together, with a focus on their varied expressions and postures. The title "Bread Line" is inscribed at the bottom left, suggesting the scene represents a queue for food during a time of economic hardship.
A detailed black and white etching by Reginald Marsh from 1934 depicting a crowded line of men in overcoats and hats, standing closely together, with a focus on their varied expressions and postures. The title "Bread Line" is inscribed at the bottom left, suggesting the scene represents a queue for food during a time of economic hardship.

Not on view

Date
1932

Classification
Prints

Medium
Etching

Dimensions
Sheet (Irregular): 10 × 14 3/16in. (25.4 × 36 cm) Plate: 6 3/8 × 11 15/16in. (16.2 × 30.3 cm)

Accession number
82.43.1

Edition
Proof E | 2 Proofs, Third state

Publication
Printed by Reginald Marsh

Credit line
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Katherine Schmidt Shubert Bequest

Rights and reproductions
©Estate of Reginald Marsh/Art Students League, New York/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

API
artworks/4507

At the height of the Depression, Reginald Marsh produced works such as Bread Line–No One Has Starved. The print depicts a procession of destitute men as they waiting in resignation for public assistance. Crammed into a narrow pictorial space, with little distinction among them, the men represent poverty rather than the effects of poverty on individuals. Although Marsh no doubt had compassion for the poor, this collective typecasting turns the bread line into yet another element in the metropolitan landscape, different only in mood from the movie theaters, beaches, railcars, burlesque shows, and dance halls that pervade Marsh’s art.

Reginald Marsh
188 works in the collection

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