GEORGES ROUAULT (French, 1871-1958)

Tete le Clown, Paris, 1930

10 ¾ x 8 inches [27.3 x 20.3 cm]

Mixed media on paper

Signed and dated lower center: G. Rouault 1930

Expertise: Madame Isabelle Rouault, Paris.

 

Provenance

Gift to Shirley MacLaine from Charles Feldman, Hollywood, CA

Collection of Shirley MacLaine: Malibu, CA/ Abiquiu, NM

Fred R. Kline Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

 

Exhibtion

Fred R. Kline Gallery.  "Georges Rouault: Portrait of  a Clown".  Summer 1998

 

Note

Georges Rouault is universally recognized as one of the important modern artists of the 20th century. From early in his career, he felt a deep attraction to the circus and its people; not for the amusing and decorative scenes the circus offered, but as a metaphor of the tragedy and comedy combined in the human condition, "the circus of life" as he called it. His vision focused particularly on the clown. "I clearly recognized that the clown was myself," he wrote. "He was all of us. Just like the clown, we hide behind our own very personal masks." Tete is among the finest examples of Rouault's clown series, a motif developed throughout his career. The quality of the clown subjects found in many notable museum collections compares on the highest level with Tete.

Sold to a distingished British collection