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 "Girl #4" performed by Gwendolyn Hale. At the center of the sheet of paper is a light sketch in pencil painted over in watercolor of a woman wearing a pink dress with a patterned full length skirt, a white patterned bodice with a high collar and bow at the waist, pink sleeves in a leg of mutton style (very full at the shoulder and narrow from elbow to wrist), with a pink hat with yellow brim decorated with flowers and a bow. The woman is wearing black shoes and is holding a black parasol in her left hand. Behind the figure of the woman are some lightly painted lines indicating a fence and boardwalk. At the upper left hand corner, in ink, is handwritten [Sk. #92].

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