From Social to Magic Realism:
Eight American Paintings of the 1930s and 1940s

Paul Meltsner (American, 1905–1966)
Untitled, mid-1930s
Oil on canvas, 24 x 20” (61 x 51 cm)

O. Louis Guglielmi (American, born Egypt. 1906–1956)
Minetta Street, 1938
Gouache on paperboard, 20 x 15” (51 x 38 cm)
Note: The artist painted at least three similar views of this Manhattan street in which he varied the figures (see version at SFMoMA).

Jack Levine (American, 1915–2010)
The Card Players, 1940
Gouache on paper, 16 3/4 x 21 3/4” (42.5 x 55 cm)

Jack Levine (American, 1915–2010)
The Reluctant Ploughshare (or Soldier’s Return ), 1946
Gouache on paper, 23 x 26” (58.4 x 66 cm)
Formerly Merrill C. Berman Collection; now Brooklyn Museum
Note: This work is a study for the larger oil painting, Welcome Home of 1946, which has been in the collection of Brooklyn Museum since 1946 (46.124).

Reginald Marsh (American, 1898–1954)
Holy Name Mission, 1931
Tempera on canvas mounted on panel, 35 1/2 x 47 1/2” (90.2 x 120.7 cm) Formerly Merrill C. Berman Collection;
now Minneapolis Institute of Art (2015.55.7)

Theodore Roszak (American, born Poland. 1907–1981)
City Forms, 1937
Gouache and watercolor on paper, 29 1/8 x 24 1/8” (74 x 61.3 cm)

James Guy (American, [1909 or 1910]–1983)
Escape, 1938
Oil on Masonite, 16 x 20” (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

Jared French (American, 1905–1988)
Painting and Sculpture, 1949
Egg tempera on gessoed linen mounted on board, 21 x 11 1/4” (54 x 28.5 cm)

May 16, 2023