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拍品专文
Painted in 1939, Georges Rouault’s Arlequin is a manifestation of one of his most admired subjects, which he revisited throughout his oeuvre. Rouault first realized the motif after suffering a psychological crisis at the turn of the century, fueled by the loss of his mentor, Gustave Moreau and the departure of his parents to Algeria. He said, “at that time I underwent a moral crisis of the most violent nature. I felt things that cannot be put into words, and I started to produce paintings of outrageous lyricism which everyone felt disconcerting” (quoted in S. Whitfield, "An outrageous lyricism" in Georges Rouault: The Early Years, 1903-1920, London, 1993, p. 11). After emerging from this dark period, his subject and technique permanently changed. Somber religious scenes were replaced by lively images inspired by his childhood visits to the circus. In 1905, the artist wrote a letter to theosophist and writer Edouard Schuré, describing a vision that he had during this time:
“At the fall of dusk, after a lovely day, when the first star, shining in the heavenly vault sent a tremor through my heart, an entire world of poetry was born to me. That circus wagon of wandering gypsies halted on the roadside, the old jade browsing the sparse grass, the aging clown seated beside his van patching his glittering motley-colored costume, the contrast between these scintillating garments of entertainment and this life of infinite sadness loomed before my eyes… And then I blew up the picture, and I suddenly recognized who the ‘clown’ really was. It was I, you, practically all of us, somewhat clowns wearing a ‘spangled costume’” (quoted in J. Johnson, Georges Rouault and Material Imaging, London, 2020, p. 79).
Rouault was deeply disenchanted by modern life; rather, he claimed that “his real life lay in the age of cathedrals” (quoted in S. Whitfield, op. cit., p. 11). It is this sensibility that informed the singular world Rouault constructed: a colorful and painterly world of mythological, biblical, and circus figures. Arlequin transports the viewer into this sphere, drawing the eye ever closer to his dreamscape by way of thick brushstrokes and evocatively dark outlines. Like many of his portraits, in this work, the artist recalls a type of the figure, rather than an individual, suggesting that anyone could, and likely does, wear the mask of the performer.
Arlequin in particular was executed at a point in Rouault’s oeuvre when he focused greatly on the circus, as Ambroise Vollard had commissioned him to illustrate the book Cirque de l’étoile filante, published in 1938. Like many of Rouault’s depictions of this type, the figure is bounded within the atmosphere of the stage and framed as such. He employs a technique of cloisonné that elicits the stained-glass windows of his beloved cathedrals. Arlequin is at once a colorful ode to the piety of his past and a lens through which the artist makes sense of existence in the modern world. Born from a tumultuous period in Rouault’s life, the circus images have endured as vibrant and contained reveries.
“At the fall of dusk, after a lovely day, when the first star, shining in the heavenly vault sent a tremor through my heart, an entire world of poetry was born to me. That circus wagon of wandering gypsies halted on the roadside, the old jade browsing the sparse grass, the aging clown seated beside his van patching his glittering motley-colored costume, the contrast between these scintillating garments of entertainment and this life of infinite sadness loomed before my eyes… And then I blew up the picture, and I suddenly recognized who the ‘clown’ really was. It was I, you, practically all of us, somewhat clowns wearing a ‘spangled costume’” (quoted in J. Johnson, Georges Rouault and Material Imaging, London, 2020, p. 79).
Rouault was deeply disenchanted by modern life; rather, he claimed that “his real life lay in the age of cathedrals” (quoted in S. Whitfield, op. cit., p. 11). It is this sensibility that informed the singular world Rouault constructed: a colorful and painterly world of mythological, biblical, and circus figures. Arlequin transports the viewer into this sphere, drawing the eye ever closer to his dreamscape by way of thick brushstrokes and evocatively dark outlines. Like many of his portraits, in this work, the artist recalls a type of the figure, rather than an individual, suggesting that anyone could, and likely does, wear the mask of the performer.
Arlequin in particular was executed at a point in Rouault’s oeuvre when he focused greatly on the circus, as Ambroise Vollard had commissioned him to illustrate the book Cirque de l’étoile filante, published in 1938. Like many of Rouault’s depictions of this type, the figure is bounded within the atmosphere of the stage and framed as such. He employs a technique of cloisonné that elicits the stained-glass windows of his beloved cathedrals. Arlequin is at once a colorful ode to the piety of his past and a lens through which the artist makes sense of existence in the modern world. Born from a tumultuous period in Rouault’s life, the circus images have endured as vibrant and contained reveries.