"Manhole (Chicago Club). "Four (4) original drawings for a poster illustration for the club Manhole, Chicago. The final illustration in the more finished work appeared on club posters and advertisements. Two (2) ink and graphite on paper, two (2) graphite on paper. Includes three (3) preliminary sketches and one (1) more finished work.

Manhole was Halsted Street’s first leather bar, opened in 1990. Manhole stood apart from other Boystown bars and dance clubs. It had an exclusive back dance floor, with a strict shirtless or leather-bound dress code, and a more edgy, more avant-garde scene amongst its DJs and crowd. Manhole was central to the leather community in Boystown and overall was a formative part of the queer and fetish community in Chicago.

The Hun's Manhole commission follows the same tradition as Toulouse-Lautrec's 1889 commission for the famous cabaret poster for the Moulin Rouge and La Goulue, the originator of the French can-can, a dance that was then considered scandalous and could get performers arrested.

Provenance: Acquired from the artist and then an estate bequest to an international institution, deaccessioned through Vallots because the artworks do not fit the institution's mission.

Condition consistent with age. Nothing particularly adverse to note.

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