Under the Big Top
6 artworks from 6 artists across 6 galleries
The tour is ordered to begin from the Michigan Avenue entrance. If you are starting in the Modern Wing, simply do your tour in reverse order.
Step right up and take a tour inspired by the circus and the exhibition "Matisse's Jazz: Rhythms in Color."
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Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Gallery 201, second level, Arts of Europe: Painting and Sculpture Galleries
The two girls in this painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir are Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg, acrobats who performed in the famed Cirque Fernando in Paris. They are depicted clutching oranges tossed to them from the crowd as gifts. Although they are painted standing in the center of a circus ring, Renoir actually painted them in his studio, where he could take full advantage of natural sunlight."Attending the circus was a favorite Parisian pastime in the late 19th century. The sisters depicted here were teen acrobats in the Cirque Fernando, the same circus in Montmartre captured in Toulouse-Lautrec’s 'Equestrienne.'"
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Equestrienne (At the Cirque Fernando)
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Gallery 242, second level, Impressionism Galleries
This work, set at a circus, captures the tense moment in which a female trick rider prepares to stand up on her horse and leap through a paper hoop held by a clown. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec may have based the rider, dressed in a tutu of gauze and sequins, on Suzanne Valadon, a former circus performer, model, and artist with whom he had a relationship."The Cirque Fernando opened in 1875 in Paris's Montmartre neighborhood, where artists including Toulouse-Lautrec lived. He was drawn to the world of performers, acrobats, and others living on society's fringes and created numerous circus-themed works."
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The Hippodrome, London
Everett Shinn
Gallery 272, second level, Arts of the Americas Galleries
The Hippodrome, London is the first oil painting Everett Shinn made devoted what would become his signature subject: popular entertainments of the day. (The Hippodrome was a circus that became a music hall.) While Shinn’s subject matter and perspective are similar to works by French artists like Edgar Degas and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, they also reflect his own theatrical interests and early career as an illustrator for periodicals."The London Hippodrome opened its doors in 1900 as a venue for circuses and variety shows. The original performance space featured both a stage and a 100,000-gallon water tank used for aquatic spectacles."
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Rehearsal of the Pasdeloup Orchestra at the Cirque d'Hiver
John Singer Sargent
Gallery 273, second level, Arts of the Americas Galleries
Sargent often attended free concert rehearsals conducted by Jules-Étienne Pasdeloup, popular events in late 19th-century Paris. This composition shows his perceptive use of Impressionist techniques to depict modern, urban subjects. Sargent employed thin, abbreviated brushstrokes to capture the rich atmosphere and graphic qualities of the amphitheater’s architecture, the musicians, their sheet music and instruments, and the circus performers."The Cirque d'Hiver (Winter Circus) opened in 1852 as a venue for circuses, dressage exhibitions, and musical concerts. It is both the world's oldest existing circus building and the world's oldest circus in operation."
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Untitled (Harlequin)
Joseph Cornell
Gallery 397, third level, Modern Galleries
Joseph Cornell’s early works that transitioned from collage to three-dimensional assemblages were often, as here, accompanied by a theatrical element. “Shadow Boxes,” as Cornell called some of his constructions of this period, resemble toy shadow-box theaters that were popular in the United States in the latter part of the 19th century. The articulated marionette can be set in motion by manipulating the strings at the top of the box."The harlequin has its origin in the Italian theater. Dressed in a diamond-patterrned costume, they resemble a circus clown and are known for performing acrobatics and other acts of comic relief during a show."
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Carnival in Arcueil
Lyonel Feininger
Gallery 392, third level, Modern Galleries
This painting is set in the town of Arcueil, south of Paris, where Feininger spent several months a year from 1906 to 1912. Feininger's intense interest in architecture is apparent not only in the use of the town's majestic viaduct but also in the brilliantly colored houses. Against this dramatic backdrop, Feininger depicted a motley crew of characters, some of whom recall Feininger's earlier cartoons."The French have enjoyed carnivals and circuses since the 1700s. By the mid-19th century, Paris became the epicenter for circus performances. Artists like Feininger, Picasso, and Matisse drew inspiration from the itinerant lifestyle of circus performers."
