Costume design drawing by Judy Dearing for Maria in Porgy and Bess: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A costume design drawing by Judy Dearing for the character Maria in the musical Porgy and Bess. The drawing depicts a woman standing with her left hand on her hip and her right hand hanging behind her side. She wears a white hat with a wide brim and a large off-white bow around the hatband, and a loose-fitting white dress falling to her mid-calf with a belted waist, a lace collar, and full-length billowing sleeves with tight cuffs that have a lace or other patterned design on them. Her white shoes have a short heel and a decorative seam across the top of the toe box. The woman and her clothing are outlined in graphite with an unidentified pigment shading. The stamp for the United Scenic Artists Local 829 is in black ink in the lower left facing corner, with Dearing's signature in black ink below the stamp. The reverse is blank.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1995
• Created by: Judy Dearing, American, 1940 - 1995
• Type: design drawings
• Medium: graphite and pigment on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 13 3/4 × 10 7/8 in. (34.9 × 27.6 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Art
• Topic: Costume
• Topic: Costume design
• Topic: Design
• Topic: Musical Theatre
• Topic: Opera (Music)
• Object number: 2014.128.6
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Unknown - Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.