Showgirl
Object Label
This showgirl, with her direct, heavy-lidded gaze and rouged face, is an example of the “new woman” of the 1920s. Her stance, with turned-out leg and arms akimbo, imply the new and highly sexualized dances popular during the Roaring Twenties. John Carroll alludes to the lively, angular rhythms of popular jazz through the repeated and patterned form of the musician, whose face suggests the shape of an African mask—linking jazz to African culture.
Caption
John Carroll American, 1892–1959. Showgirl, 1929. Oil on canvas, 66 x 40 in. (167.6 x 101.6 cm) frame: 71 x 44 3/4 x 1 3/8 in. (180.3 x 113.7 x 3.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Ellen E. Rand, 2013.59.1. © artist or artist's estate
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Showgirl
Portfolio
Date
1929
Medium
Oil on canvas
Classification
Dimensions
66 x 40 in. (167.6 x 101.6 cm) frame: 71 x 44 3/4 x 1 3/8 in. (180.3 x 113.7 x 3.5 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Ellen E. Rand
Accession Number
2013.59.1
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
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Frequent Art Questions
Can you tell me about this painting?
"Showgirl" by John Carroll gives us a feeling for the entertainment world of the 1920s -- the showgirl/dancer in her stage costume (pretty revealing for that time!) and the jazz musicians in the background.Carroll was apparently looking at European avant-garde movements like Cubism (think: Picasso!), especially in the area the right right where he breaks down the scene into abstract forms -- but the figure of the showgirl is still somewhat traditional in style.Carroll was a San Francisco native who traveled to Europe several times and ended up working and teaching art (at the Art Students League) in New York. He also lived and worked in Detroit for a time.My friend and I noticed a blue patch painted between this woman's legs. Why do you think the artist did that?
That's a fairly recent acquisition, on display for the first time! It recently underwent some careful conservation.I'm guessing that the blue and black area is meant to suggest the recession of space behind the dancer......which is interesting, since some other areas of the painting, like the stylized details of the theater architecture at the right, look so "flat" by contrast.Modernist artists of the early 1900s were definitely experimenting with new ways of showing space -- breaking away from traditional methods of depicting perspective!Aha, thanks for your insight! We were wildly speculating.Why are the three black jazz musicians not mentioned in the description?
The label does mention that the repeated and patterned forms of the musician on the left have faces that suggest the shape of an African mask, which links jazz to African culture.But jazz is African-American culture.Agreed! But at the time, there wasn't as clear of a distinction between African culture and African-American culture. The black community was in the process of trying to form a collective group identity, and many individuals looked to African culture for inspiration and a personal sense of history.
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