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Mae West

Date1965

Label TextArbus Traveld to Santa Monica to visit West on her seventy-fifth birthday. This portrait and an essay by Arbus appeared in "Show" magazine in 1965. She wrote, "Nourished by her own legend, [West] has outlasted every lover and inititated a nation of boys into manhood . . . She is imperious, adorable, magnanimous, genteel, and girlish, almost simultaneously." Arbus also wondered if a street poem about the blonde sex symbol had foreshadowed "the changing mores everyone so deplores and enjoys": Mae West, Half undressed, Come up and see me sometime, And I'll show you the rest.

Object number86.33

Provenance[Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA]; purchased from gallery by Seattle Art Museum (with funds from Small Estate), May 10, 1986

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "American Gothic", August 27, 1998 -January 24, 1999 Seattle, Washington, Henry Art Gallery, "Coming to Life, The Figure in American Art 1955-1965", February 25, 1999 - June 13, 1999 Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Collection Highlights: 1945 To The Present", September 12, 1996 - June 1, 1997, (09/12/1996 - 06/01/1997)

Credit LineMary Arrington Small Estate Acquisition Fund

Dimensions14 5/8 x 14 11/16 in. (37.2 x 37.3 cm)

MediumGelatin Silver Print