Swann Live Bidding App
88 of 368 lots
88
JOHN SLOAN The Prostitute, Drama Scene.
Estimate:
$1,500 - $2,500
Passed
Live Auction
American Art
Description
Description: JOHN SLOAN The Prostitute, Drama Scene. Pencil on cream wove paper, circa 1905. 175x270 mm; 7x10 inches. Signed, titled and inscribed "Stage 2" in pencil, lower recto.Offered Christie's, New York, sale 2142, March 5, 2009, lot 18; private collection Potomac, Maryland.According to one recent study, "At the turn of the twentieth century, plays about prostitutes and fallen women were so popular that they may be said to constitute a genre--the brothel drama. Between 1898 and 1922, approximately 50 playsfeaturing prostitutes were produced in New York. The Library ofCongress and Robert Sherman’s Drama Cyclopedia list approximately 50 more that were copyrighted during this time, although it is uncertainwhether they were ever performed," (Johnson, Sisters in Sin: Brothel Drama in America, 1900-1920, Cambridge, 2006, page 1).