In the early twentieth century, the European photographers Eugène Atget and Brassaï photographed Paris's 'underworld', documenting the lives of the city’s madams, pimps, dancers and prostitutes. Arbus knew their work well – an Atget print of a prostitute hung on the wall of her studio – and she shared their interest in this kind of subject, as seen in this portrait of a topless dancer. Arbus draws attention to the woman’s nakedness as her flash accentuates the paleness of her breasts against her tanned body. And, like Brassaï’s portraits of prostitutes in their rooms, Arbus is also interested in the woman’s environment. In contrast with her glamorously sequinned dress, shiny stockings and glossy wig, her surroundings seem strangely domesticated – more like a shabby bedroom than a dressing room.