Riders in a Mermaid Tunnel Boat

Like the drawing Reginald Marsh made on the other side of this large sheet of heavy watercolor paper (TF C1982.7a), this work depicts a couple in a boat inside a tunnel ride at New York City's famed Coney Island amusement park. The central feature is a curvaceous young woman. The propped position of her left foot allows the clinging fabric of her dress to fall away from her thigh provocatively, but her leg becomes a barrier to her companion, from whom she twists away even as he turns toward her. He appears to be well dressed in a jacket and bow-tie, but his spectacles suggest his blindness to anything but her. The flat painted cut-out shape of a mermaid on the side of their boat evokes the setting of a tunnel of love, a classic themed amusement park attraction. The leering faces looking down on the couple from the upper right, however, point up the debasement of genuine emotion in the tawdry atmosphere of a place more likely to serve as the setting for casual encounters of a purely sensual nature.

Marsh devoted much of his art to the ironic intersections of blissful expectation and crude reality in the world of the modern city. New York's Coney Island, with its crowded beaches and attractions, was a rich source of subjects. In 1946, Marsh painted several images of a couple in a themed tunnel ride. The two drawings on this sheet probably were made in preparation for this group, although neither appears to be an exact study for any one of the paintings. The two drawings differ most obviously in the relationship between the man and the woman. Here, she seems aware of her power of attraction but resistant to her companion's advances, and she retains her hat. In the 1940s wearing a hat was still considered an important part of dressing for public view; here, perhaps, it is a mark of lingering propriety belied by her alluring pose.

Le Temps des loisirs : peintures américaines (At Leisure: American Paintings), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2008. Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861–2008, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut (organizer). Venues: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut, January 31–May 31, 2015; San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California, July 11–October 13, 2015; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, November 20, 2015–March 13, 2016; McNay Art Museum, May 11–September 11, 2016. [exh. cat.]

Christie's, New York, New York, (Sale 6838, May 25, 1989): lot 364B. Ill. lot 364B, p. 375 (color).