Portrait of a Dance Hall Girl – sold

Oil on hardboard panel, 8″x6″

This painting is another in a series of what I think of as “creative portraits”. They aren’t any existing person but are usually inspired by old B&W photos and stories of the past. They start to take on a life of their own as I paint and become about an imaginary character and mood.

This girl reminded me of the taxi-dance girls in the dance halls of the 1920s and 30s. Paid a dime a dance, it was a somewhat scandalous yet relatively lucrative profession for young women in an era where opportunities were limited. I think anyone who was able to make a living that way had to be tough yet charming. This girl looks like she’s got a lot of spunk and wouldn’t take any nonsense from drunken louts.

December 1, 2016 by Pat Kelley Categories: figurative, PortraitTags: 1920s, beautiful woman, female figurative art, figurative painting, flapper, original oil painting, pretty face, red haired woman, representational art, roaring twenties, taxi dancer, vintage look 2 Comments