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| Medium: | hand-pulled lithograph | |
| Image size: | 45 1/4" x 63 1/2" | |
| Edition size: | 175 | |
| Numbered Proofs: | 37 | |
| Non-Numbered Proofs: | 25 | |
| Total Edition size: | 237 | |
| Number of colors: | 16 | |
| Year printed: | 1989 | |
| Atelier: | Arts-Litho, Paris | |
| Current Price: | $ 2350 Last price on secondary mkt. |
The sun is rising. It is six o'clock in the morning and some rowdies are returning home in an old pink Studebaker. They are mocking a strange girl who walks on the sidewalk.
The girl of 42nd Street seems to be in her own world. She has flowers in her hair, yet seems very sad. She has a very odd pet on her shoulder, a black rabbit. What is her story? Where is she coming from? Where is she going to?
Authouart loves the theater, and in his career has built many sets for the stage, hence the building façades that resemble something one might see in a Broadway production. But there is another meaning to these strange store fronts. Authouart grew up in Rouen, a beautiful city in Normandy, in the north of France. Rouen was so heavily bombed during the Second World War that the façades were all that was left standing of many of the buildings. It's not hard to imagine how this could leave a lasting impression on a young boy.
There are other strange things on this 42nd Street. One sees a beach through an open store front. A passenger ship can be seen at the end of the street - perhaps a symbol of the fact that we are a nation of immigrants. The shop signs and theater marquees form a montage of the American cinema from Elvis and Brando to the sleaze that lined the street in 1989.
In the lower right hand corner we have an American dollar bill. It is a world wide symbol of success and certainly the underlying motive behind much of what went on on 42nd Street.
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