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Lot 421 THE PROPERTY OF AN IMPORTANT SWISS COLLECTOR
Georges Rouault (1871-1958)
Clown et petite danseuse
Closed28 June 2017
Price Realised
GBP 37,500
More Information
Specialist note
The Fondation Georges Rouault has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Clown et petite danseuse comes bears strong similarity to several studies entitled Parade (Rouault & Dorival; 1369-1371, 1386-1387) from Cirque de l’étoile filante [The Circus of the Shooting Star], a theme which Rouault had worked on as a series of colour etchings to be produced as a book with his publisher Ambroise Vollard between 1926 – 1938. The same composition later appears once again, as with the present work, in Parade (Rouault & Dorival, 2093). Further examples by the same name can be seen executed in a horizontal format in the collection of the Centre Pompidou.
In this composition, Rouault explores the interaction between the two characters of his much beloved circus; the tragic, fumbling clown and delicate, petite, dancer, producing a humorous contrast. Their encounter in this context can be seen to stand in as a metaphor for the sense of otherness in human relationships. At the same time, the awkwardness of this juxtaposition is contextualised by their common affiliation within the circus, a group, often familial in their relationship to one another, where misfits may find togetherness, even belonging.
Clown et petite danseuse comes bears strong similarity to several studies entitled Parade (Rouault & Dorival; 1369-1371, 1386-1387) from Cirque de l’étoile filante [The Circus of the Shooting Star], a theme which Rouault had worked on as a series of colour etchings to be produced as a book with his publisher Ambroise Vollard between 1926 – 1938. The same composition later appears once again, as with the present work, in Parade (Rouault & Dorival, 2093). Further examples by the same name can be seen executed in a horizontal format in the collection of the Centre Pompidou.
In this composition, Rouault explores the interaction between the two characters of his much beloved circus; the tragic, fumbling clown and delicate, petite, dancer, producing a humorous contrast. Their encounter in this context can be seen to stand in as a metaphor for the sense of otherness in human relationships. At the same time, the awkwardness of this juxtaposition is contextualised by their common affiliation within the circus, a group, often familial in their relationship to one another, where misfits may find togetherness, even belonging.