Night Club

By the time Kyra Markham made this lithograph, she had already successfully painted murals to decorate several New York City restaurants and night clubs, so the setting depicted here was a familiar milieu. At left, the artist captured a couple mid-glide, prominently spotlit like stage stars on a crowded dance floor in a darkened interior. The man, with heavily-lidded downcast eyes, tightly clutches his glamorous partner, wearing a clinging gown and a big smile, as they dance cheek to cheek. In the lower right foreground, two couples converse around a candlelit table; the highlights on their faces transform them into amusing masks.

Because of her stage acting background, Markham, a keen observer of human behavior, knew how to heighten the dramatic possibilities of ordinary activities. This print reveals her skills in visualizing an anecdotal situation and masterfully rendering telling details. Print scholars believe that Markham's lithographs, like this one, were printed by the master lithography printer, George C. Miller.

On Process: The American Print, Technique Examined, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, January 13–March 2, 2001.

Le Temps des loisirs : peintures américaines (At Leisure: American Paintings), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France,  April 1–October 31, 2008.

Home Grown: The School of the Art Institute in the Permanent Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, October 17, 2015–February 14, 2016.

Terra Collection-in-Residence, Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology, Oxford, United Kingdom, September 15, 2022–September 30, 2026.

Witkin, Lee D. Kyra Markham, American Fantasist (1891–1967). (exh. cat., The Witkin Gallery Inc.). New York: The Witkin Gallery Inc., 1981. Text p. 4; ill. p. 5 (black & white).