Dress Tent, Ruth Harris Bohan

Artwork Overview

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Ruth Harris Bohan, artist
1891–1981
Dress Tent, 1930s
Where object was made: United States
Material/technique: canvas board; oil
Dimensions:
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 25.4 x 20.3 cm
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 10 x 8 0.99213 in
Credit line: Bequest of Ruth H. Bohan
Accession number: 1983.0043
Not on display
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Label texts

Archive Label 1999: Circus performers were a popular genre subject for late nineteenth-century European artists. In the 1920s and '30s they also attracted the attention of American artists, including George Bellows, Walt Kuhn, and John Steuart Curry. Circuses, amusement parks, and movies provided accessible, inexpensive entertainment during the Depression. Bohan's intimate scene of female circus performers changing their costumes captures a realism that contrasts with the magical illusion of the Ringling circus. Bohan also made numerous paintings and sketches from live models at Fairyland Park in Kansas City. Bohan's interest in such subjects from daily life was inspired by her teacher at the Kansas City Art Institute, Randall Davey, an associate of the urban realists known as the Ash Can School.