Show World Center

Original color illustration by Marcellus Hall featuring the Show World Center, a theater and pornographic emporium on Eighth Avenue in NYC, with a window sign reading “No Live Girls,” apparently to alert interested parties that the theater was acting in compliance with then-Mayor Giuliani’s “New Rules” (which, among other things, applied strict zoning restrictions to adult entertainment venues). The New Yorker published this illustration in its July 23, 2001 issue alongside an extended feature on the transformation of adult entertainment in the city from “smut” to “New Burlesque.”

Ink, watercolor, and gouache on 8” x 10.25” Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed watercolor paper. The reverse side contains the dates of creation and publication of the piece and Marcellus’s signature stamp. A protective cover sheet is taped to the reverse side which folds over the front of the image. Excellent condition.