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Red Buttons

Red Buttons

Maker (American, 1898 - 1954)
Collections
ClassificationsPAINTINGS
Date1936
Mediumegg tempera on board
Dimensions23 1/2 x 15 1/2 in. (59.7 x 39.4 cm.)
SignedSigned in lower right of recto in blue paint: Reginald Marsh '36
InscribedSigned in lower right of recto in blue paint: Reginald Marsh '36
Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Purchased with funds from Hannah and Russel Kully, Steve Martin, the Connie Perkins Endowment, Anne and Jim Rothenberg, and the Virginia Steele Scott Acquisition fund for American Art
Copyright© Estate of Reginald Marsh / Art Students League of New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Status
On view
Label TextGirls (Red Buttons) features two fashionably dressed young women inside a restaurant with a busy street visible through glass windows. Many of Marsh's best images are about seeing and being seen in New York City's public spaces. Here, one of the women looks at the viewer while the other glances to the right, outside the painting. The position of the women in a shallow space near the picture plane reinforces the sense that they are on display.
After graduating from Yale in 1920, Marsh became a newspaper and magazine illustrator. While studying with Kenneth Hayes Miller (whose Caller Waiting hangs on this wall) he began painting in egg tempera, which is made with powdered pigments, yolk, and water. The quick-drying medium allowed Miller to work with a speed and sureness that led to some of his finest painting.

Object number2009.1
The Locomotive
The Locomotive
Reginald Marsh
1935
Object number: 2013.4
Girl Walking in Front of Brownstone
Girl Walking in Front of Brownstone
Reginald Marsh
ca. 1950
Object number: 2015.31.45
Bathers (Bath Houses)
Bathers (Bath Houses)
George Tooker
1950
Object number: 2017.6
Still Life with Green Chair
Still Life with Green Chair
Roger Medearis
1950
Object number: 2005.12
Five Ladies at Tea
Five Ladies at Tea
Reginald Cleaver
n.d.
Object number: 71.36
Image Not Available for Corner of Apablasa St. and Alameda – showing the balcony of the “Biltmore” (the building which runs from Alameda on the North side of Apablasa back its length facing at the jog in Apablasa and as it was considered a high class building, it came to be known as “The Biltmore”. The Soo Hoo family lived here for a time.) The red brick building across the street is F. Sie On’s home – Trees showing in back of it are in the Plaza.
Corner of Apablasa St. and Alameda – showing the balcony of the “Biltmore” (the building which runs from Alameda on the North side of Apablasa back its length facing at the jog in Apablasa and as it was considered a high class building, it came to be known as “The Biltmore”. The Soo Hoo family lived here for a time.) The red brick building across the street is F. Sie On’s home – Trees showing in back of it are in the Plaza.
Martin Jacob Jackson
Object number: 2022.16.15
Red Table Top Still Life
Red Table Top Still Life
Alfred Henry Maurer
ca. 1919
Object number: 2000.2a
Image Not Available for Blond-Haired Boy Seated in a Child’s Rocker Holding A Whip, Girl in Red Dress with Eyelet Pantaloons and Red Shoes with a Black Dachshund: A Double Portrait
Blond-Haired Boy Seated in a Child’s Rocker Holding A Whip, Girl in Red Dress with Eyelet Pantaloons and Red Shoes with a Black Dachshund: A Double Portrait
William Matthew Prior
ca. 1845
Object number: 2022.25.14
Virginia with Red Hat
Virginia with Red Hat
Jonathan Hartley Folliott Scott
n.d.
Object number: 84.41
Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man with Red Curtain)
Untitled (Portrait of a Young Man with Red Curtain)
Sheldon Peck
ca. 1827-1830
Object number: L2015.41.160
Girl in a Red Sweater
Girl in a Red Sweater
Raphael Soyer
ca. 1965
Object number: 2001.29
Red Poppies on Garden Wall
Red Poppies on Garden Wall
Hans Gustav Burkhardt
1963
Object number: 2006.20
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