Details

Provenance

M. Knoedler & Co., New York Mr. and Mrs. Henry Sears, New York Private Collection (sold: Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, April 25, 1980, lot 205, illustrated) Acquired by the present owner at the above sale

Exhibited

Oxford, Ohio, Miami University Art Museum, Twentieth Century American Masters , January-February 1982 New York, Andrew Crispo Gallery, American Works on Paper , February-March 1982, no. 48 Davenport, Iowa, Davenport Art Gallery; Little Rock, Arkansas, Arkansas Art Center; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Oklahoma Art Center; Wichita Falls, Texas, Wichita Falls Museum; Corpus Christi, Texas, Art Museum of South Texas; Kansas City, Missouri, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville Museum of Art; Stillwater, Oklahoma, Gardiner Art Gallery; Pueblo, Colorado, Sangre de Christo Art Center; Lincoln, Nebraska, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery; Peoria, Illinois, Lakeview Museum of Arts & Sciences; Salina, Kansas, Salina Art Center; Springfield, Missouri, Springfield Art Museum; Lexington, Kentucky, University of Kentucky Art Museum, American Works on Paper: 100 Years of American Art History , December 1983-December 1985, no. 48, p. 109, illustrated in color p. 56 New York, Canova and Rittenhouse Fine Art Gallery, A Selection of 20th Century Art: Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture , November 1991-January 1992, no. 20 Catalogue Note Walt Kuhn created the present work as a study for arguably his most acclaimed painting, Roberto (Fig. 1), which was included in his 1946 exhibition at Durand-Ruel Galleries. The show yielded immense commercial success and further established Kuhn’s prominence in the art world. Roberto depicts a chalk-faced circus performer clad in pink, one of the artist’s most replicated subjects, and epitomizes his modernist intent. In both the final portrait and present study, Kuhn brings Roberto to life by capturing a palpable level of intense human emotion through the performer’s penetrating stare.

Catalog summary

Walt Kuhn Study for Roberto signed Walt Kuhn , dated 1946 and titled Study for "Roberto" (lower right) ink and watercolor on paper 19 by 13 1/4 inches (48.3 by 33.7 cm) Provenance M. Knoedler & Co., New York Mr. and Mrs. Henry Sears, New York Private Collection (sold: Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, April 25, 1980, lot 205, illustrated) Acquired by the present owner at the above sale Exhibited Oxford, Ohio, Miami University Art Museum, Twentieth Century American Masters , January-February 1982 New York, Andrew Crispo Gallery, American Works on Paper , February-March 1982, no. 48 Davenport, Iowa, Davenport Art Gallery; Little Rock, Arkansas, Arkansas Art Center; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Oklahoma Art Center; Wichita Falls, Texas, Wichita Falls Museum; Corpus Christi, Texas, Art Museum of South Texas; Kansas City, Missouri, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville Museum of Art; Stillwater, Oklahoma, Gardiner Art Gallery; Pueblo, Colorado, Sangre de Christo Art Center; Lincoln, Nebraska, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery; Peoria, Illinois, Lakeview Museum of Arts & Sciences; Salina, Kansas, Salina Art Center; Springfield, Missouri, Springfield Art Museum; Lexington, Kentucky, University of Kentucky Art Museum, American Works on Paper: 100 Years of American Art History , December 1983-December 1985, no. 48, p. 109, illustrated in color p. 56 New York, Canova and Rittenhouse Fine Art Gallery, A Selection of 20th Century Art: Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture , November 1991-January 1992, no. 20 Catalogue Note Walt Kuhn created the present work as a study for arguably his most acclaimed painting, Roberto (Fig. 1), which was included in his 1946 exhibition at Durand-Ruel Galleries. The show yielded immense commercial success and further established Kuhn’s prominence in the art world. Roberto depicts a chalk-faced circus performer clad in pink, one of the artist’s most replicated subjects, and epitomizes his modernist intent. In both the final portrait and present study, Kuhn brings Roberto to life by capturing a palpable level of intense human emotion through the performer’s penetrating stare.