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Clowns

Artist:
Charles Demuth (American, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 1883–1935 Lancaster, Pennsylvania)
Date:
1916
Medium:
Watercolor and graphite on paper
Dimensions:
11 3/8 x 8 in. (28.9 x 20.3 cm)
Classification:
Drawings
Credit Line:
Bequest of Charles F. Iklé, 1963
Accession Number:
64.27.6
Not on view
Between 1915 and 1919 Demuth produced a number of figurative watercolors as illustrations for specific literary works, and also as independent narratives that reflected his enjoyment of vaudeville, circus, social club, and music hall entertainments. The sexual permissiveness that characterized the bohemian scene in New York, where he was then living for part of the year, is often felt in these works. Here, two men, one dressed as a clown, the other in a shirt and tie, cavort suggestively.
Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): C. Demuth./ 1916 –
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Everts, Lancaster, Penn. and Providence, Rhode Island; Charles F. Iklé, New York (until d. 1963; his bequest to MMA)

Katonah, N.Y. The Katonah Gallery. "Alfred Stieglitz and His Circle," May 9–June 27, 1971, brochure no. 2.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Charles Demuth," May 9–August 31, 2003, no catalogue.

Essays
Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) and His Circle
Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986)
Precisionism

Timelines
The United States and Canada, 1900 A.D.-present

Modern and Contemporary Art (13,392)
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