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Lot Essay
The Fondation Georges Rouault has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
In common with the artist’s favoured subject of Pierrot, the oft cited clown who dominates his oeuvre, Fille de cirque shares the hooded eyes and framed representation of her enclosed profile. However, in presenting instead the rose-cheeked face of a female circus performer, this charming portrait appears to convey a less tragic demeanour, appearing more colourful in her spring-like palette of bright pinks and greens. Speaking of another female subject, Teresina from 1947 (B. Dorival and I. Rouault, vol. II, 2287), Pierre Courthion observes: "Until about 1956 these close-ups were the occasions for festive outbursts of colour, making this period one of the most brilliant in Rouault’s entire career. A woman’s face, as was so often the case with his clowns, was only a pretext for the joy of painting” (P. Courthion, Georges Rouault, New York, 1977, p. 148)
Heavily encrusted in oil, gouache and ink, Fille de cirque is characteristic of Rouault's lyrical, mature style and projects the lively colour and gestural exuberance of the circus with his characteristic hints of emotionally weighted character. Thick, black contours set off the figure's face against a radiant and richly textured gem-coloured background. The artist's adept handling of light recalls the effects of stained glass, which he studied as a young apprentice; James Thrall Soby suggests, Rouault may have absorbed the colouristic influences of Byzantine enamels, Roman mosaics and Coptic tapestries into his late work as well. The warm harmonies of Fille de cirque are a testament to Rouault's mastery of spiritual and emotional color and suggest the artist's graceful acquiescence to the "ideal of art for its own sake," which his early figures so powerfully repudiated, in the serenity of his later years (J. T. Soby, Georges Rouault, Paintings and Prints, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1945, p. 26).
In common with the artist’s favoured subject of Pierrot, the oft cited clown who dominates his oeuvre, Fille de cirque shares the hooded eyes and framed representation of her enclosed profile. However, in presenting instead the rose-cheeked face of a female circus performer, this charming portrait appears to convey a less tragic demeanour, appearing more colourful in her spring-like palette of bright pinks and greens. Speaking of another female subject, Teresina from 1947 (B. Dorival and I. Rouault, vol. II, 2287), Pierre Courthion observes: "Until about 1956 these close-ups were the occasions for festive outbursts of colour, making this period one of the most brilliant in Rouault’s entire career. A woman’s face, as was so often the case with his clowns, was only a pretext for the joy of painting” (P. Courthion, Georges Rouault, New York, 1977, p. 148)
Heavily encrusted in oil, gouache and ink, Fille de cirque is characteristic of Rouault's lyrical, mature style and projects the lively colour and gestural exuberance of the circus with his characteristic hints of emotionally weighted character. Thick, black contours set off the figure's face against a radiant and richly textured gem-coloured background. The artist's adept handling of light recalls the effects of stained glass, which he studied as a young apprentice; James Thrall Soby suggests, Rouault may have absorbed the colouristic influences of Byzantine enamels, Roman mosaics and Coptic tapestries into his late work as well. The warm harmonies of Fille de cirque are a testament to Rouault's mastery of spiritual and emotional color and suggest the artist's graceful acquiescence to the "ideal of art for its own sake," which his early figures so powerfully repudiated, in the serenity of his later years (J. T. Soby, Georges Rouault, Paintings and Prints, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1945, p. 26).