Ed Hotz graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1931, near the height of the great depression. With his prospects for a career as an illustrator dwindling with each closing newspaper and magazine, Hotz did what any American with connections would do, he joined his family's business! And that was the jewelry pawn business and in 1931 business was booming. This painting executed as a graduate examination remained in the artists home his entire career in the jewelry business. The model became his wife and she admonished him; "Ed, your career as a painter of nudes is over". And his career as an artist became restricted to weekends and "Still Life without Nude". The painting is housed in a lovely Dutch style ebonised wood frame.