Showgirl

1929

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.