Collections: American Art: Dressing Room

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This image is presented as a "thumbnail" because it is protected by copyright. The Brooklyn Museum respects the rights of artists who retain the copyright to their work.

Dressing Room

Born in Brooklyn, Walt Kuhn became one of the most influential advocates for the international avant-garde in art owing to his role as an organizer of the landmark 1913 Armory Show (International Exhibition of Modern Art) in New York. Kuhn’s own art was deeply affected by his exposure to the forcefully distorted figures painted by the German Expressionists, whose canvases he had encountered during a tour of European cities in 1912. Dressing Room is typical of Kuhn’s work in its focus on the subject of a costumed performer and in the expressively exaggerated features and intense colors. Fascinated by such individuals who existed on the margins of society, Kuhn invested this figure with a direct, unselfconscious sexuality that was still uncommon in American art of the period.


• Artist: Walt Kuhn, American, 1877-1949
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Dates: 1926
• Dimensions: 45 x 33 1/4 in. (114.3 x 84.4 cm)
• Signature: Signed lower right: "Walt Kuhn / 1926"
• Collections: American Art
• Museum Location: This item is on view in American Identities: A New Look, Modern Life, 5th Floor
• Accession Number: 27.860
• Credit Line: Gift of Friends of the Museum
• Image: Overall, 27.860_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
Walt Kuhn (American, 1877-1949). Dressing Room, 1926. Oil on canvas, 45 x 33 1/4 in. (114.3 x 84.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Friends of the Museum, 27.860 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 27.860_bw.jpg)