ArtPage on the Fourteenth Street School

Fourteenth Street School - When more than one artist works consistently with a particular subject matter or locale and within the confines of style, the group, however small in number, is sometimes referred to as a school. Fourteenth Street school refers to the work of Kenneth Hayes Miller (American, ) and two of his students at at the Art Students League in New York City, Reginald Marsh (American, 1898-1954) and Isabel Bishop (American, 1902-1988). All three were realists in the tradition of the Italian Renaissance, Miller being closest to that tradition in the formal monumentality of his work. Marsh is perhaps furthest from it in the relentless documentation of the seamy side of life. Isabel Bishop, in contrast, observes closely but always with a warm empathy toward her subject. There is in all her work an atmosphere — a quality of light that envelopes her subjects — which is uniquely hers. It is not the light of the street or of the studio but it is a light that establishes an ideal environment for the artist's sympathetic investigation of the subject.

Examples of their works:

Reginald Marsh (American, 1898-1954), Barrel of Fun, 1943, oil on composition panel, 24 x 29 ¾ inches, National Academy of Design, NY. See genre and New Deal art.

Isabel Bishop (American, 1902-1988).

Also see American Scene painting and New Deal art.