Sandy

Walt Kuhn’s works exhibit a realism that was dramatically new in the early years of the 1900s, and which continued to be a major stylistic characteristic for the artist throughout the thirties and forties. Kuhn designed costumes for circuses and theatrical productions and chose subjects from the people he met there. Sandy portrays a clown in his costume and Pierrot hat. All background is eliminated, emphasizing the bright, simple colors, bold brushstrokes, and the subject’s revealing posture. The clown was a favorite motif of 20th-century painting, an expression of tragedy and man’s lost dignity hidden behind a mask of makeup. Kuhn clarified the significant meaning behind the seemingly simplistic clown with his artist statement: “If all those who go to my show see nothing but the subject, then my whole endeavor as an artist is in vain.”