Georges Rouault

Henri Simon, Paris (acquired from the artist between 1907-1914)

Thence by descent to the present owner

 Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Georges Rouault, 1952, no. 17, illustrated in the catalogue (titled Pierrot)

Stedelijk Museum, Georges Rouault, Amsterdam, 1952, no. 17, illustrated in the catalogue (titled Pierrot)

Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Georges Rouault, 1952, no. 27, illustrated in colour in the catalogue (titled Pierrot )

Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Rouault. Peintures inconnues ou célèbres, 1965, no. 9, illustrated in the catalogue (as dating from 1908)

Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Georges Rouault - Exposition du Centenaire, 1971, no. 19, illustrated in the catalogue

Cologne, Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle, Georges Rouault, 1983, no. 26, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Paris, Galerie Schmit, 25 ans d'expositions – Maîtres Français  XIXème - XXème siècles, 1990, no. 59, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou & Fribourg, Musée d'art et d'histoire, Rouault - Première période 1903-1920, 1992, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Royal Academy of Arts, London, Georges Rouault - The early years 1903-1920, 1993, no. 43

Tokyo, Musée des Beaux-Arts Yasuda Kasai; Gifu, Musée Préfectoral de Gifu; Shizuoka, Musée Préfectoral de Shizuoka & Yamagata, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Yamagata, Rétrospective Georges Rouault, 1999, no. 13, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Paris, Galerie Schmit, Rétrospective Georges Rouault, 2008, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Lionello Venturi, Rouault, New York, 1940, illustrated pl. 30 (titled Clown)

Lionello Venturi, Rouault, Paris, 1948, illustrated pl. 31 (titled Clown)

Christian Zervos, ‘Approches de l'œuvre de Rouault’, in Cahiers D'Art, Paris, December 1952, illustrated p. 115 (titled Pierrot)

Lionello Venturi, Rouault, Geneva, 1959, illustrated p. 49

Frantisek Zverina, Georges Rouault, Prague 1961, illustrated pl. 11

Pierre Courthion, Georges Rouault, New York, 1962, no. 161, illustrated p. 161

Hiroatsu Takata, ‘Rouault’, in Sekai no Bijutsu, vol. 22, 1966, no. 17, illustrated in colour pl. 17

Bernard Dorival & Isabelle Rouault, Rouault. L’œuvre peint, Monte-Carlo, 1988, vol. I, no. 128, illustrated in colour p. 53

Fabrice Hergott, Georges Rouault, Paris, 1991, no. 14, illustrated in colour p. 126

Jose Maria Faerna, Great Modern Masters, Rouault, Barcelona, 1996, no. 10, illustrated in colour p. 19

Oihana Robador, Georges Rouault. Al margen de las doctrinas, Pampelona, 2004, illustrated in colour p. 267

Executed on cream laid paper which is laid down on the artist's board and set into a cradled panel. There is no evidence of retouching under ultra-violet light. There is an area in the background, lower left, which has some surface abrasion. There are a few very minor scratches in the lower half of the composition, and a small scratch running across the figure's left shin (visible in the catalogue illustration). Apart from a small repaired tear measuring 2.5cm on the lower part of the right edge, this work is in very good condition. Colours: In comparison to the printed catalogue illustration, the colours are overall less warm; the blues are softer and the greens are more pronounced in the original.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Of all the characters of the circus, it was the clown to whom Rouault was most drawn, as Bernard Dorival wrote in the catalogue raisonné of the artist’s work, ‘what Rouault liked most about them was the colour, movement and verve, the play of light on their made-up faces, their wandering lifestyle, their being allowed to dream, their emancipated way of living which was the extreme opposite of the bourgeois way of life’ (B. Dorival, op. cit., p. 109).

In the period between 1902 and 1909 Rouault explored the figure of the clown in many guises, sometimes as part of groups of performers but most commonly as a single figure, emphasising what he felt to be the innate loneliness of the profession. In L'illusionniste he depicts a clown in the guise of Pierrot – the infamous lover of the Italian Commedia dell’Arte, but his character has none of the hopeless, lovelorn sensibility of the traditional character. Instead, Rouault depicts his Pierrot as a commanding figure who dominates the composition. Using loose, often sharply defined brushstrokes in combination with a richly colourful palette, Rouault achieves a powerful sense of character that alludes to the more sinister elements of their world. This stripping away of the glitz and glamour associated with the act of performance was at the heart of Rouault’s love for this motif and he expressed these feelings in a poem that he sent in a letter to the French writer and philosopher Edouard Schuré:

‘I have the defect (defect perhaps… in any case
it causes me abysmal suffering)
of leaving no one his glittering costume,
be he king or emperor. I want to see the soul of the man
in front of me… and the greater he is,
the more mankind glorifies him, the more I fear for his soul’
(quoted in B. Dorival & I. Rouault, Rouault. L’œuvre peint, Monte-Carlo, 1988, vol. I, p. 40).