Dressing Room
Walt Kuhn
American Art
During the 1920s the world of the theater permitted bolder expressions of female sexuality that were gradually coming into vogue. The Brooklyn-born painter Walt Kuhn captured this spirit in a series of single portraits featuring costumed performers in intimate, offstage settings. In Dressing Room, a heavily made-up chorus girl directs her gaze outward while flaunting a self-assured stance. Kuhn’s depiction of popular entertainment from this decade contributed to the visualization of the decidedly modern woman and coincided with early feminist advocacy for women’s expanded roles in professional and social life.
MEDIUM
Oil on canvas
DATES
1926
DIMENSIONS
45 x 33 1/4in. (114.3 x 84.5cm)
Frame: 52 x 40 1/8 x 2 in. (132.1 x 101.9 x 5.1 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
Signed lower right: "Walt Kuhn / 1926"; on bottom tacking margin: "Jan 1926"
COLLECTIONS
American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
27.860
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Friends of the Museum
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Walt Kuhn (American, 1877–1949). Dressing Room, 1926. Oil on canvas, 45 x 33 1/4in. (114.3 x 84.5cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Friends of the Museum, 27.860. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 27.860_SL1.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 27.860_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
© Estate of Walt Kuhn
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