Clown with Red Tights

William “Walt” Kuhn was born in New York, studied at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, and began his career as a cartoonist and illustrator. He served as one of the organizers of the 1913 New York Armory Show, which showcased the vanguard of European painting and sculpture. The exhibit influenced a distinct change in Kuhn’s artistic style; his paintings began to demonstrate Henri Matisse’s arbitrary use of bold colors. Kuhn developed a loose, fluid style and began to incorporate broad, simplified forms into his compositions.

In the 1920s he became immersed in show business, which shaped his mature life as an artist. As illustrated in Clown with Red Tights, he began painting theatrical genre portraits, including clowns, acrobats, showgirls, and other thespians. Viewing the circus and vaudeville as microcosms of the world, he referred to his subjects as metaphors of society. His works usually portray the overworked and underpaid anonymous working-class participants of show business, rather than the stars of the stage. Subjects are rarely depicted in action; instead they appear in isolated portrait settings as if posing before or after a performance. Like many of Kuhn’s other sitters, the clown is positioned frontally against a somber backdrop, which creates a mood of physical and emotional alienation. The figure appears enervated, and his expression is sad and devoid of humor. While the vibrant red leotard evokes the joviality and energy associated with jesters, the clown’s pensive stare suggests feelings of loneliness and depression. Accentuating his tired eyes, the white facial makeup further emphasizes his melancholic mood. Clown with Red Tights typifies Kuhn’s empathetic twenty-year relationship with nameless circus and stage performers.