Stage Beauties

Morris Hirshfield American, born Poland
1944
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 757
A cofounder of a women’s coat and suit company, Hirshfield began making art at age sixty-five. His focus and methods in painting extended from his skills as a tailor. Depicting mainly female nudes and women performers, Hirshfield often prepared full-scale drawings of his compositions and traced them onto his canvases as stencil patterns. This process remains visible in Stage Beauties: the pencil tracing marks can be seen through the paint layer. Influential gallery owner Sidney Janis propelled Hirshfield to fame after he discovered the self-taught artist’s work in New York.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Stage Beauties
  • Artist: Morris Hirshfield (American (born Poland), 1872–1946 Brooklyn)
  • Date: 1944
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 40 1/8 in. × 48 in. (101.9 × 121.9 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Carroll and Donna Janis, 2013
  • Object Number: 2013.1118
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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