Watercolor costume sketch by Lemuel Ayers for the musical St. Louis Woman

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A watercolor sketch by Lemuel Ayers of a costume for the musical "St. Louis Woman", as performed in 1946. This costume is for the character "Butterfly" performed by Pearl Bailey. At the center of the sheet of paper is a light sketch in pencil painted over in watercolor of a woman wearing a patterned, light green dress with a pink bouse and green puff sleeves with dark green bows at the shoulders and cuffs, a bow with a long sash at the waist, a hat with a bow, and a veil. At the upper left hand corner, in ink, is handwritten [Sk # 73]. At the upper right hand corner of the paper is a drawing, not overpainted, showing the back view of the dress. Behind the figure of the woman are some lightly painted lines indicating a wall and floorboards.

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