The City

A prominent early 20th-century American artist, Walt Kuhn is perhaps best known for his realistic portraits of theatrical figures. He is also remembered as one of the primary organizers of the 1913 Armory Show, the groundbreaking exhibition of modern art in the United States. The City, a large painting of a half-dressed female performer in garish stage makeup, surrounded by backstage clutter, is an early example of Kuhn’s lifelong interest in the popular culture of live performance and the psychology of performers. With exaggerated brushstrokes, bold colors, and loose, undefined lines, Kuhn depicted themes of diverse urban entertainments—the cabaret, prostitutes, stage dancers, jazz bands—and captured the excitement and vitality of modern city life. The work’s provocative title suggests symbolic associations as well, in which the world of the stage is equated with the gritty reality of the metropolis. Like the modern city itself such performers are vulgar, tawdry, sensual, but also intensely alive, as reflected in the performer’s suggestive stance, bright pink and blue makeup, and form-fitting clothing. Kuhn later adapted these themes to the representation of American images often involving the urban pleasures of vaudeville, taxi dance, and the circus.