Dragoon

Artist Walt Kuhn (1877 - 1949)

Date1947

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions36 x 22 in. (91.4 x 55.9 cm)
Framed: 46 1/2 in. × 32 3/8 in. × 1 in.

ClassificationsPainting

Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2006.9

Signedl.r. in dark brown paint: Walt Kuhn / 1947

Accession number 2006.9

On View

On view

ProvenanceEstate of the Artist, 1949; (Kennedy Galleries, New York, NY); (Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, NY), by 1984; Andrew Steinberg, New York, NY; (Hirschl & Adler Gallery, New York, NY); Michael Rosenfeld and halley k. harrisburg, New York, NY; (Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY), by 2005; purchased by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2006
Label TextFascinated by the spectacle of modern entertainers, Walt Kuhn frequently portrayed clowns, cabaret dancers, and other stage performers in his work. Beginning in the 1920s, he created a bold series featuring young women in costume wearing flamboyant headwear. Kuhn transformed these women into different characters—in this case a showgirl in a seductive dragoon (member of the cavalry) outfit. Highlighting her sensuous skin and colorful theatrical make-up, he bestowed a gaudy glamour upon his subject and charged the portrait with sexual energy.
Inscribedverso, along each of the four tacking margins, in black paint: Dragoon 1947
Markingsverso, on stretcher: Anco Co. [stencil]