Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo Nacional Search Ir al contenido principal

Navegación superior (EN)

About Us Support Become Friend Shop Tickets
Español
Visit Collection Exhibitions Activities Education Search
  • Visit
  • Collection
  • Exhibitions
  • Activities
  • Education

Thyssen - Navegación superior (EN)

About Us Support Become Friend Shop Tickets
Español
©
VEGAP, Madrid
Reginald Marsh

Smoko. The Human Volcano

1933
Watercolor on Masonite.
91.4 x 122 cm
Carmen Thyssen Collection
Inv. no. (
CTB.1978.39
)
ROOM J
Level 0
Carmen Thyssen Collection and Temporary exhibition rooms
A B C D E F G H I J Hall Temporary exhibition rooms Access to Permanent Collection Entrance Access to Carmen Thyssen Collection Paseo del Prado Garden
A 17th and 18th Centuries. Old Masters B 19th Century. North American Landscape C 19th Century. French Naturalist Landscape D 19th Century. Impressionism E 19th Century. Monet and North American Impressionism F 19th Century. Gauguin and Postimpressionism G 19th and 20th Centuries. Neo Impressionism and its Wake H 20th Century. Early Avant-gardes I 20th Century. Between the Wars Painting. Cubism, Abstraction and Surrealism J 20th Century. North American Painting and Others • HALL

Reginald Marsh's Smoko, The Human Volcano depicts Coney Island, the popular-priced Brooklyn beach resort and amusement park that attracted New York's large urban populace during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Easily and inexpensively accessible by subway, Coney Island offered a welcome sea breeze to the masses confined in the city on a hot summer day. Marsh first went to the Brooklyn amusement park on assignment as an illustrator at the suggestion of Frank Crowninshield, the editor of Vanity Fair magazine.

Marsh loved the boisterous crowds and chaotic activity that he observed at Coney Island and so he began to make regular sketching trips there, finding constant inspiration for his paintings. He explained his response to Coney Island: "I've been going out there every summer, sometimes three or four days a week. On the first trip each summer I'm nauseated by the smell of stale food, but after that I get so I don't notice it. I like to go there because of the sea, the open air, and the crowds-crowds of people in all directions, in all positions, without clothing, moving-like the compositions of Michelangelo and Rubens." Around the time he painted this lively canvas, Marsh wrote to his wife Felicia, a landscape painter who spent her summers in Vermont, telling her of his most recent afternoon at the beach at Coney Island: "The wind was fresh and strong blowing great whitecaps in on the seas-the sea a rich blue-The crowd as thick as I've ever seen, much to my delight. The noise of the beach could be heard for miles and there was scarce room on the sand to sit down..."

Marsh made a sketch for Smoko, the Human Volcano on one of these jaunts to Coney Island. In the sketch, both the figure of Smoko and the woman wearing shorts standing just below are clearly visible. But Marsh also took photographs of his subject. He considered his photographs to be snapshots, a kind of visual note-taking, rather than as finished works of art. The photographs' subjects are in the documentary tradition of his contemporaries Berenice Abbott and Walker Evans, but his use of his own photography to create paintings can be compared to Ben Shahn and Ralston Crawford.

Four of the photographs Marsh used for Smoko, the Human Volcano show that he faithfully recorded the publicity logo from the billboard of the sideshow: "[fa]tilist supreme" and "Smoko the human volcano: startling feats of fire eating." To the left of Smoko's billboard image, Marsh depicted a poster of a female fortune teller or psychic who points to her crystal ball with phrases like "tomorrow" emanating from it. Beneath her the caption reads; "x-ray your mind." In the painting, Smoko, standing before his image on the billboard, is depicted performing his act, about to swallow fire. Wearing a wide print tie and orange suspenders, he dramatically throws his head back, about to insert the flaming torch. To the right of the female performer scantily clad with a bare midriff and shorts, Marsh painted another figure drawn from his photographs: a girl of short stature, wearing a headband in her hair, a bright red dress and lipstick. Marsh placed the spectator among the crowd, looking up at the performers.

Gail Levin

20th CenturyPaintingWatercolorMasonite
Listen
Download image Print page

Tours to find it

Swaying Dancer (Dancer in Green), 1877-1879
Tours
A journey through the Performing Arts

The performing arts as an arena of encounter.  

Products and publications

Smoko x Loreak Mendian jacket

Smoko x Loreak Mendian jacket

195.00 €

Camiseta verde Smoko x Loreak Mendian

Camiseta verde Smoko x Loreak Mendian

54.99 €

Smoko x Loreak Mendian ecru t-shirt

Smoko x Loreak Mendian ecru t-shirt

65.00 €

Smoko x Loreak Mendian skateboard

Smoko x Loreak Mendian skateboard

85.00 €

Visit online shop

More from the collection

Reginald Marsh
Reginald Marsh
Battery Park
ca. 1926
  • Private and/or didactic use
  • Commercial use
Private and/or didactic use
Smoko. The Human Volcano. Smoko. El volcán humano, 1933
Smoko. The Human Volcano
Reginald Marsh

©

VEGAP, Madrid

Terms of Use

The exploitation rights of the images correspond to the Fundación Coleccion Thyssen-Bornemisza, F.S.P. The Fundación authorizes the downloading of high-resolution images from its website for private use, use for educational and research purposes and non-commercial uses.

However, photographed works are protected by copyright. Therefore, regardless of the terms of use of the images set out below by the Foundation, it will be necessary to obtain a license from VEGAP (www.vegap.es), or from the corresponding collective management organisation in the country where the work is going to be used or, where appropriate, from the holder of their rights in order to reproduce or exploit the work.

Use for educational and research purposes is understood as the non-commercial or advertising use of images in presentations, conferences, school or university work, in classes at regulated education institutions, as well as in academic publications, with a circulation of less than 1,000 copies, provided that it is non-profit.

Non-commercial use is understood as the use of the images in a context where no profit, monetary or commercial, is generated, directly or indirectly.

Any use other than those indicated above will require the prior written authorization of the Fundación.

Any request for educational and research use or for non-commercial use (including academic publications), should be directed by email to the Museum Photo Library through the email address archivo.fotografico@museothyssen.org. This department manages the worldwide distribution of the images of the works of the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and the management of their reproduction rights for those uses.

The user agrees to use the image of the website solely and exclusively for the purposes described above and in accordance with the following terms of use, which, however, do not apply to the reproduction of photographs, as they are protected by Copyright.

Terms of use

  • If the image is used for reproduction, the work must be reproduced in its entirety. The image may not be manipulated, deformed, modified or altered in any way. In particular, no superposition (of images or texts) on the reproduction is allowed.
  • The reproduction of a detail or part of the work may only be made with the prior written authorization of the Fundacion. In this case, the credit line must include the following mention: “detail”.
  • Any total or partial reproduction of the images of the Fundación that has been previously authorized must be accompanied by the copyright text indicated by the owners or their copyright holders as well as the following mention: Provenance: Carmen Thyssen Collection.
  • The user will send free of charge to the Museum Photo Library one (1) free copy of the edition, publication or reproduction to the following address: Archivo Fotográfico, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Paseo del Prado, 8 28014 Madrid, Spain.
Download image
Commercial use
Smoko. The Human Volcano. Smoko. El volcán humano, 1933
Smoko. The Human Volcano
Reginald Marsh

©

VEGAP, Madrid

Terms of Use

The Photo Library of the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza offers sale and rental service of photographic material of all the works of the Carmen Thyssen Collection.

To request images or permits for commercial use in academic or research publications, that is, catalogues of other institutions, monographs and other specialized publications, you should contact the Museum's Photo Library by email at the e-mail @email.

To request images or permits for other commercial or advertising uses (general publications, merchandising, exhibitions, audio-visual works, web pages, etc.), you should contact the Museum's Commercial Archive by email at the e-mail archivo.fotografico@museothyssen.org.

The Photo Library and the Museum's Commercial Archive manage the worldwide distribution of images of the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza works, as well as their reproduction rights. The applicable rates are calculated based on the nature and proposed use of the images, as well as the availability of the requested image.

Requests for scans or new photographs will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Once approved, an additional fee will apply. Re-photographing a work will require a minimum of six weeks to complete.

However, photographed works are protected by copyright. Therefore, regardless of the terms of use of the photographs set out below by the Foundation, it will be necessary to obtain a license fromVEGAP (Visual Entidad de Gestión de Artistas Plásticos www.vegap.es) or from the corresponding collective management organizations in the country where the work is going to be used or, where appropriate, from the holder of their rights in order to reproduce or exploit the work.

Download image
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo Nacional

Navegación secundaria (EN)

  • #Thyssenmultimedia
  • Press
  • Corporate events
  • Tourism
  • Join our team
  • Newsletter
Instagram
Facebook
X
Youtube
TikTok
iVoox
LinkedIn

The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza would like to thanks for the collaboration of:

Fundación Mutua Madrileña Master Card Comunidad de Madrid
©2025 Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum

Menú al pie (EN)

  • Legal terms and use of images
  • Public tenders
  • Transparency site
  • Accessibility and quality
  • Sustainability & 2030 Agenda
  • Contact
Ministry of Culture España es cultura | Spain is culture. The website promoting Spanish culture Paisaje de la Luz | Paseo del Prado y Buen Retiro. Paisaje de las Artes y las Ciencias
Certificación de Conformidad con el Esquema Nacional de Seguridad. Categoría Media. RD 311/2022