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American Beauty
Artist:
Walt Kuhn
(American, 1877 - 1949)
Date: 1934
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
Overall: 33 1/4 x 65 1/2 in. (84.5 x 166.4 cm)
Overall, Frame: 44 3/4 x 79 5/8 x 3 in. (113.7 x 202.2 x 7.6 cm)
Classification: Modern art
Credit Line: Bequest of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Copyright:
Object number: 89.62
Terms
- Woman
- Fan
- Feathers
- White
- Orange
- Green
- Black
- Yellow
- Red
- Pink
- Realism
In Collection(s)
On view
DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting of a woman reclining on a cushion in a sequined, showgirl outfit with a large, pink feather fan held over her hip. A decorated orange drape is under her torso, and a green fabric is under her outstretched legs.
Exhibition History"Walt Kuhn/1877-1959," Kennedy Galleries, New York, N.Y., October 10 - November 7, 1967. (Exh. cat. no. 10, fig. 10)
"Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976.
"American Painting 1930-1980," Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany, November 14, 1981 - January 30, 1982. (Exh. cat. no. 146)
"Walt Kuhn: The Entertainers," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, N.Y., January 21 - April 5, 1987.
"Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006.
"American Treasures at the Willoughby-Baylor House," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, January 2 - December 1, 2013.
"Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976.
"American Painting 1930-1980," Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany, November 14, 1981 - January 30, 1982. (Exh. cat. no. 146)
"Walt Kuhn: The Entertainers," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, N.Y., January 21 - April 5, 1987.
"Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006.
"American Treasures at the Willoughby-Baylor House," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, January 2 - December 1, 2013.
Label textWalt Kuhn
American, 1877–1949
American Beauty, 1934
Oil on canvas
Intense colors complement the bold stare of this young dancer, suggesting the music and energy of a vaudeville show. Painter Walt Kuhn also worked as a theater producer and often used dancers, clowns, mimes, and acrobats as his artistic subjects. The heavy make-up on this woman’s face may tell a darker story about the worlds of art and show business: her body is a canvas, and, while dancing on stage to earn a living, our anonymous American Beauty hides her true identity beneath layers of bright cosmetic paint.
Bequest of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 89.62
American, 1877–1949
American Beauty, 1934
Oil on canvas
Intense colors complement the bold stare of this young dancer, suggesting the music and energy of a vaudeville show. Painter Walt Kuhn also worked as a theater producer and often used dancers, clowns, mimes, and acrobats as his artistic subjects. The heavy make-up on this woman’s face may tell a darker story about the worlds of art and show business: her body is a canvas, and, while dancing on stage to earn a living, our anonymous American Beauty hides her true identity beneath layers of bright cosmetic paint.
Bequest of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 89.62
Published References
John R. Thornton, "Legendary Painter's Work in New York Show," Portland, Maine _Evening Press_ (October 18, 1967): 44.
Dennis R. Anderson, "New Paintings by Kuhn, Frieseke, Davis, Sheeler, and O'Keefe," Chrysler Museum _Bulletin_ 3, no. 7 (July 1974): cover.
Dennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975, 196.
Mahonri Sharp Young, "Primitive to Pop," _Apollo_ 107 (April 1978): 46-51.
Philip R. Adams, _Walt Kuhn, Painter: His Life and Work_ (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1978), 156, 162, 261, no. 313. ISBN: 0814202586
Tom Armstrong, _Amerikanische Malerei, 1930-1980_, exh. cat., Haus der Kunst, München, Germany, 1981, 140. ISBN: 3791305727
_Walt Kuhn: The Entertainers_, exhib. brochure, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, N.Y., 1987, not paged.
"Museum Benefits From Chrysler Trust," _The Chrysler Museum Bulletin_ 18, no. 11 (December 1988): 1-2.
Bennard B. Perlman, "Innocence in Greasepaint," _Art & Antiques_ (February 1990): 64-69, 102-103.
Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 188-189, no. 118. ISBN: 0-940744-71-6
Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 74, fig. 83. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1
Provenance
Estate of the Artist; Kennedy Galleries, New York; Coe Kerr Galleries, New York, 1974; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Bequest of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, 1989.
Catalogue EntryWalt Kuhn
Brooklyn, N.Y. 1877-1949 New York, N.Y.
American Beauty, 1934
Oil on canvas, 33 1/4 × 65 1/2 in. (84.5 × 166.4 cm)
Signed and dated lower right: Walt Kuhn
1934
Bequest of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 89.62
References: Philip R. Adams, Walt Kuhn, Painter: His Life and Work, Columbus, Ohio, 1978, pp. 156, 162, 261, no. 313; Amerikanische Malerei, 1930-1980, exhib. cat., Haus der Kunst, Munich, 1981-82, p. 140; Walt Kuhn: The Entertainers, exhib. brochure, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1987, n.p.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Walt Kuhn received his first, rudimentary art instruction at the local Polytechnic Institute. After a stint in San Francisco as a cartoonist and magazine illustrator, he departed for Europe in 1901, where he continued his artistic training at the Académie Colarossi in Paris and the Royal Academy in Munich.
Returning home in 1903, Kuhn settled in New York City and, allying himself with The Eight (see objects 71.651, 71.501, 71.702, 71.678, 71.673), resolved to build a career there as a painter. But his ambition in this regard was initially challenged by financial considerations-by 1911 he had a wife and daughter to support-and by his other activities and enthusiasms. To make ends meet, for example, he continued to produce cartoons for newspapers and magazines, and in 1912 he became a principal organizer of the Armory Show, traveling with fellow-painter Arthur B. Davies to England and the Continent to make the European selections for that revolutionary exhibition of modernist art. Between 1912 and 1920 Kuhn served as art advisor to the wealthy New York lawyer, John Quinn, helping him amass an important collection of modern art. And from 1922 he became increasingly involved in the world of show business, designing, staging, and even writing vaudeville acts and musical reviews.
A turning point came in 1925, when the forty-eight-year-old artist developed a near-fatal stomach ulcer. Kuhn's brush with death refocused him on his painting. He traveled again to Europe to look more closely at the modernist masters, and particularly at the art of Cézanne, the Fauves, and the German Expressionists. Within five years of his illness he had begun a succession of mature figurative works-haunting, iconic portrayals of clowns, acrobats, and show girls-that at last secured his reputation as a major American painter. Ushered in by his seminal White Clown of 1929 (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), the series continued during the 1930s-arguably his strongest period-with masterpieces such as the Chrysler's American Beauty.
The painting depicts a scantily dressed show girl reclining on a bed-an intentionally brassy rendition of the traditional odalisque form. In her left hand she holds an ostrich fan, a stripper's prop. The bold simplicity of the design-the broad, flat fields of strident color bound by heavy black outlines-is typical of Kuhn's mature work, as is the blunt psychological force of the figure's blank expression and mask-like face. The painting's palette-a discordant array of orange, red, green, and pink-reflects Kuhn's experiment at the time with "arbitrary color." With such deliberately "vulgar" hues he aimed to achieve a radical antidote to conventional "good taste" and, in the process, devise a palette that matched the gritty realism of his subjects.
Kuhn's paintings of show people focus not on stage or circus stars, but on the less exalted members of the troupe and chorus line, "the overworked and underpaid anonymous proletariat of show business" (Philip R. Adams). As seen in American Beauty, he portrayed these performers with affection and respect, as heroic survivors of a grueling profession and life's hard knocks.
JCH
Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 188-189, no. 118.
Brooklyn, N.Y. 1877-1949 New York, N.Y.
American Beauty, 1934
Oil on canvas, 33 1/4 × 65 1/2 in. (84.5 × 166.4 cm)
Signed and dated lower right: Walt Kuhn
1934
Bequest of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 89.62
References: Philip R. Adams, Walt Kuhn, Painter: His Life and Work, Columbus, Ohio, 1978, pp. 156, 162, 261, no. 313; Amerikanische Malerei, 1930-1980, exhib. cat., Haus der Kunst, Munich, 1981-82, p. 140; Walt Kuhn: The Entertainers, exhib. brochure, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1987, n.p.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Walt Kuhn received his first, rudimentary art instruction at the local Polytechnic Institute. After a stint in San Francisco as a cartoonist and magazine illustrator, he departed for Europe in 1901, where he continued his artistic training at the Académie Colarossi in Paris and the Royal Academy in Munich.
Returning home in 1903, Kuhn settled in New York City and, allying himself with The Eight (see objects 71.651, 71.501, 71.702, 71.678, 71.673), resolved to build a career there as a painter. But his ambition in this regard was initially challenged by financial considerations-by 1911 he had a wife and daughter to support-and by his other activities and enthusiasms. To make ends meet, for example, he continued to produce cartoons for newspapers and magazines, and in 1912 he became a principal organizer of the Armory Show, traveling with fellow-painter Arthur B. Davies to England and the Continent to make the European selections for that revolutionary exhibition of modernist art. Between 1912 and 1920 Kuhn served as art advisor to the wealthy New York lawyer, John Quinn, helping him amass an important collection of modern art. And from 1922 he became increasingly involved in the world of show business, designing, staging, and even writing vaudeville acts and musical reviews.
A turning point came in 1925, when the forty-eight-year-old artist developed a near-fatal stomach ulcer. Kuhn's brush with death refocused him on his painting. He traveled again to Europe to look more closely at the modernist masters, and particularly at the art of Cézanne, the Fauves, and the German Expressionists. Within five years of his illness he had begun a succession of mature figurative works-haunting, iconic portrayals of clowns, acrobats, and show girls-that at last secured his reputation as a major American painter. Ushered in by his seminal White Clown of 1929 (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), the series continued during the 1930s-arguably his strongest period-with masterpieces such as the Chrysler's American Beauty.
The painting depicts a scantily dressed show girl reclining on a bed-an intentionally brassy rendition of the traditional odalisque form. In her left hand she holds an ostrich fan, a stripper's prop. The bold simplicity of the design-the broad, flat fields of strident color bound by heavy black outlines-is typical of Kuhn's mature work, as is the blunt psychological force of the figure's blank expression and mask-like face. The painting's palette-a discordant array of orange, red, green, and pink-reflects Kuhn's experiment at the time with "arbitrary color." With such deliberately "vulgar" hues he aimed to achieve a radical antidote to conventional "good taste" and, in the process, devise a palette that matched the gritty realism of his subjects.
Kuhn's paintings of show people focus not on stage or circus stars, but on the less exalted members of the troupe and chorus line, "the overworked and underpaid anonymous proletariat of show business" (Philip R. Adams). As seen in American Beauty, he portrayed these performers with affection and respect, as heroic survivors of a grueling profession and life's hard knocks.
JCH
Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 188-189, no. 118.