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Ralph Leon
 

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Ralph Leon, Capitol Theatre

The Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey was constructed in 1926. Originally used as a vaudeville house, it later enjoyed lives as a movie theater and finally a concert venue. Numerous musical acts performed there. They included The Talking Heads, Fleetwood Mac and Bruce Springsteen. The artists who performed at the Capitol Theater did so at the height of their careers, in the midst of the 1970s and 1980s. New Jersey artist Ralph Leon (1932-2000) captured the intimacy of the Capitol Theater with the same familiarity he brought to everyday New Mexican flea markets in his work from the 1960s. This painting is a tribute to the theater, which was demolished in 1991.

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