Women Breaking Through Clara Tice (1888-1973)

Clara Tice (1888-1973), Untitled (Two Dancers with Pink Ribbon), ink and pencil on paper, 10 3/8 x 8 1/8 inches

In celebration of Women’s History Month, we are sharing breakthrough moments of some of the gallery's women artists.

In March 1915, Clara Tice was suddenly catapulted to fame when her drawings of female nudes on exhibit at Polly’s Restaurant in Greenwich Village were almost confiscated by the New York City vice squad. Anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock had deemed the drawings indecent and the restaurant was raided, but restaurant patron and Rogue magazine editor Allen Norton quickly purchased Tice’s drawings before they could be seized. The incident was front page news the following morning, when the New-York Tribune reported, “They impressed [Mr. Comstock], those pictures of Clara Tice did—oh, very much so! They might be aesthetic, he admitted, but—So down came the pictures, and before the news had made the complete round of the tables, the pictures had been bought. It was said . . . that the price went up with Mr. Comstock’s criticism.”

Tice with two of her beloved dogs, including Varna, the Russian Wolfhound. In 1915, Vanity Fair published a photograph of Tice and Varna surrounded by Tice's nude drawings to introduce her to their readers.

An overnight celebrity, Tice soon caught the eye of Vanity Fair editor Frank Crowninshield. She was a regular contributor to Vanity Fair by September 1915, often illustrating New York performers which suited her preference to draw from the human body in motion. Thanks to Comstock’s censure, Tice’s work was in high-demand throughout the 1920s. An integral member of the downtown bohemian art scene, she became a part of the New York Dada circle around Marcel Duchamp and the collectors Walter and Louise Arensberg. Tice’s eccentric and fiercely independent personality led her to be aptly crowned the “Queen of Greenwich Village.”

Tice's drawings published in the New-York Tribune, July 1916. Tice contributed to a variety of publications that ranged from small, bohemian magazines to more widely read newspapers.

Clara Tice's drawings are represented in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., including her portrait of Vanity Fair editor, Frank Crowninshield. To view more of Tice's drawings available through the gallery, please visit our website.