Although the music hall was Henri Evenepoel’s favourite subject, his fair scenes, such as The Clown, are more exceptional than anything else. The theme of the clown is unique in his oeuvre as a whole. Evenepoel portrays him as a tragic leading character surrounded by a crowd of spectators. The clown moves across the stage rather clumsily, with a bald head, garish make-up and a grimace on his face. His pitiful character contrasts sharply with his mocking, somewhat malicious, audience whose faces are almost transformed into masks, in a way that reminds us of Ensor, as they ridicule the clown on the stage.
| Artist |
Henri Evenepoel
RKD
VIAF
Wikidata
|
|---|---|
| Title | The Clown |
| Date | ca. 1898 - 1899 |
| Period | 19th century |
| Collection | paintings AAT |
| Object type | oil paintings (visual works) AAT |
| Inventory number | 1924-H |
| Acquisition credit |
purchase
Van Oost (coll.) Ghent 1924 |
| Current whereabouts | Work currently not on display |
| Permalink | https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1924-H |
| IIIF Manifest | https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/983/manifest.json |
| Art & Architecture Thesaurus |
300189808
figures (representations)
AAT
300056485 fantastic art AAT |
|---|---|
| Keywords Iconclass |
31A231
standing figure
Iconclass
31B62313 smiling Iconclass 31B62322 grimacing Iconclass 31B6233 mouth wide open Iconclass 31D14 adult man Iconclass 43A373 clown Iconclass 46A139 buffoon (in general) (German: 'Schalksnarr') Iconclass 48A71 performance Iconclass 48A712 the audience ~ art performance Iconclass 48A721 theatre (building) Iconclass 48C81 the stage and its equipment Iconclass 48C865 vaudeville, variety-show Iconclass 56B131 Joke; 'Giuoco (dall'antico)' (Ripa) Iconclass |
| School / Style | Impressionist (style) AAT |
| Catalogus van het Museum van Schoone Kunsten Gent : II: Moderne Meesters / Georges Chabot, Fritz Van Loo. - Gent : Ad. Hoste, 1932 (p. 65) |
| D'Ensor à Magritte dans les collections du Musée de Gand (exposition Lodève, Musée de Lodève-Hôtel du Cardinal de Fleury, 19 novembre 2004 - 27 février 2005) / Maïthé Vallès-Bled, Robert Hoozee, Johan De Smet, Helke Lauwaert, Bruno Fornari. - Lodève : Musée de Lodève, 2004 ; Milano : Mazzotta, 2004 (p. 122-124, cat. 30) |
| James Ensor : Schrecken ohne Ende (Ausstellung Wuppertal, Von der Heydt-Museum, 12. Oktober 2008 - 8. februar 2009) / Gerhard Finckh, Joachim Heusinger von Waldegg, Herwig Todts, Norbert Hostyn. - Wuppertal : Von der Heydt-Museum, 2008 |
| Belgische schone : Ensor tot Magritte ; Hoogtepunten uit de verzameling van het Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent (tentoonstelling Laren, Singer Laren, 16.06 - 30.08.2015) / Johan De Smet, Jan Rudolph De Lorm. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2015 ; Laren : Singer Laren, 2015 ; Heule : Uitgeverij Snoeck, 2015 (cat.18, afb. p.37) |
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