Live Auction 21774Modern American Art
JACOB LAWRENCE (1917-2000)
Lot 36 PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION

JACOB LAWRENCE (1917-2000)

U.S.O. 'Show'

Closed18 April 2024

Price Realised

USD 88,200

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JACOB LAWRENCE (1917-2000)
Lawrence, J.
U.S.O. 'Show'
signed, dated and inscribed 'Jacob Lawrence 1945/U.S.C.G' (lower right)—signed again and inscribed with title (on the reverse)
gouache and watercolor on paper
21 ½ x 29 ½ in. (54.6 x 74.9 cm.)
Executed in 1945.

United States Coast Guard, Washington, D.C.
Terry Dintenfass Gallery, New York.
Margit Chanin, New York.
Hammer Galleries, New York.
Sid Deutsch Gallery, New York.
Acquired by the present owner.

Specialist note

In the present work, three siren-like women perform before an anonymous crowd of soldiers. According to John Ralph Willis, USO 'Show' "provides mock relief to the ravages of war...The traidaic form [of the performers] is echoed in the mountainous lines beyond the rim of the crowd—in the troop formation that angles the stage...The hypnotic sway of the sirens suggests an orchestration by some secret string, their prepossession by some hidden force." (Fragments of American Life, An Exhibition of Paintings, exhibition catalogue, Princeton, New Jersey, p. 51) Lawrence masterfully injects a scene of entertainment with an intangible sense of eeriness, acknowledging the tension of the soldiers amidst World War II.