Cirque de l’étoile filante: Pierrot, plate XIV
Georges Rouault, Cirque de l’étoile filante: Pierrot, plate XIV, 1935; printed by 1936; published 1938, color aquatint and etching on Vergé de Montval paper, Museum Purchase: Ella M. Hirsch Fund, © artist or other rights holder, 40.8.14
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- Title
Cirque de l’étoile filante: Pierrot, plate XIV
- Related Titles
display title: Cirque de l’étoile filante: Pierrot, plate XIV
original language: Pierrot
series (original language): Cirque de l’étoile filante
- Artist
- Related People
publisher: Ambroise Vollard (French, 1866-1939)
- Date
1935; printed by 1936; published 1938
- Medium
color aquatint and etching on Vergé de Montval paper
- Edition
149/250
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
plate: 12 1/4 in x 8 3/8 in; sheet: 17 1/2 in x 13 1/8 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
signature; date: GR 1935, printed, lower left
- Collection Area
Graphic Arts
- Category
Prints
- Object Type
intaglio print
- Culture
French
- Credit Line
Museum Purchase: Ella M. Hirsch Fund
- Accession Number
40.8.14
- Copyright
© artist or other rights holder
- Terms
The circus fascinated Georges Rouault. From 1904, the subject continually recurs in his paintings and prints. For him, the circus symbolized the human struggle. Here, the artist portrays Pierrot, the Commedia dell'arte character that evolved in France into the melancholy clown. With his downcast eyes, the figure's grave dignity appears in sharp contrast to the comic gaiety of his garb. It was precisely this juxtaposition that moved Rouault, who remarked: "This contrast between bright shiny things, made to entertain, and this life of infinite sadness . . . I saw clearly that the 'clown' was me, was us . . ."
Rouault initially trained as a stained-glass artist, recalled here in his use of strong black outlines to section rich gradations of color. Applying the color aquatint with the brushy strokes of a painter, Rouault blends the two crafts with graphic media.
- Exhibitions
1999 Early Modern Prints from the Permanent Collection Portland Art Museum
2008 Making Merry: the Circus and Carnival in Graphic Art Portland Art Museum