Clown with Drum

Walt Kuhn played an integral role in selecting the contemporary European artworks featured in the groundbreaking International Exhibition of Modern Art, more commonly known as the New York Armory Show of 1913. By the early 1920s, however, his interest in European modernist trends had shifted and he was creating his signature paintings of New York’s vaudeville actors and circus performers. During this same period, Kuhn was writing, directing, and designing stage productions for local and touring performing troupes. His 1929 canvas The White Clown (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC), first exhibited at the New York exhibition Paintings by Nineteen Living Americans, heralded his mature style and drew comments of admiration for the economical use of form, masterful composition, and subtlety of color.

Clown with Drum is a remarkable example of Kuhn’s noted subject matter. Joe Pascucciello, a local boxer, served as his model, donning the make-up and costume of a clown. This “entertainer” is portrayed in Kuhn’s preferred style: instead of the big ring and the bright lights of the performance space, the viewer is given a glimpse behind the scene, a sensitive rendering from a privileged position shared by the artist. Critics often complimented Kuhn’s refined depiction of his sitters’ emotional states, which were conveyed with a sense of compressed tension. The clown, seated with his hands clenched and just barely fitting within the framework, evinces a potential for action and exemplifies Kuhn's trademark ability to express the nuanced psychological state of his subject.

Whitney Annual, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York (organizer). Venue: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, December 24, 1942–January 6, 1943.

Extended Loan to the Joslyn Art Museum Collection, The Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, 1943–October 1957 [on loan from artist and artist's estate].

Walt Kuhn, 1877–1949, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio (organizer). Venue: Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1960. [exh. cat.]

Walt Kuhn: Painter of Vision, University of Arizona Art Gallery, Tucson, Arizona (organizer). Venue: University of Arizona Art Gallery, Tucson, Arizona, February 6-March 31, 1966, no. 95. [exh. cat.]

Walt Kuhn, A Classic Revival, The Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas (organizer). Venues: The Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, August 6-September 10, 1978; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, September 30–October 29, 1978; Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, Kansas, November 18, 1978–January 6, 1979; Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado, March 1–April 15, 1979.

Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, September 1995.

Figures and Forms: Selections from the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 9–July 9, 2000.

L'Amérique et les modernes, 1900–1950 (American Moderns, 1900–1950), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, July 25–October 31, 2000. [exh. cat.]

Permanent collection installation, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 9, 2000–February 11, 2001.

Selections from the Permanent Collection: Two Centuries of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 10–July 1, 2001.

Selections from the Permanent Collection: American Moderns, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, July 14–October 7, 2001.

Mid-Century Modern: Selections from the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 20–July 7, 2002.

A Place on the Avenue: Terra Museum of American Art Celebrates 15 Years in Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 16, 2002–February 16, 2003.

The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940 (Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains, 1840–1940), Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 15–May 25, 2003; Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 8–August 17, 2003. [exh. cat.]

Copley to Cassatt: Masterworks from the Terra Collection, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut and Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, September 5–December 7, 2003.

Visages de l'Amérique: de George Washington à Marilyn Monroe (Faces of America: From George Washington to Marilyn Monroe), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2004. [exh. cat.]

Expanded Galleries of American Art with Loans from the Terra Foundation for American Art Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, April 15, 2005–May 16, 2006.

Les artistes américaines et le Louvre (American Artists andf the Louvre),Musée du Louvre, Paris, France and Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venue: Musée du Louvre, Paris, France, June 14–September 18, 2006. [exh. cat.]

Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, NY and Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, IL (organizers). Venues: National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China, February 9-April 5, 2007; Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China, April 30-June 30, 2007; Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China, April 30-June 30, 2007. (Shanghai presentations ran concurrently); The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia, July 23–September 9, 2007; Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain, October 15, 2007–April 27, 2008 (exhibited in Beijing and Shanghai; exhibited in Bilbao). [exh. cat.]

Galleries of American Art with Loans from the Terra Foundation for American Art Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, July 2008–October 2012.

Art Across America, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; National Museum of Korea, Seoul, South Korea; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venues: National Museum of Korea, Seoul, February 4– May 12, 2013; Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon, South Korea,  June 7–September 1, 2013. [exh. cat.]

America: Painting a Nation,  Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (organizers). Venue: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, November 9, 2013–February 8, 2014. [exh. cat]

Galleries of American Art with loans from the Terra Foundation for American Art Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, May 2014–July 2022.

In the Streets: Modern Life and Urban Experiences in the Art of the United States, 1893-1976 (Pelas ruas: vida moderna e experiências urbanas na arte dos Estados Unidos, 1893–1976). Terra Foundation for American Art and Pinacoteca de São Paulo (organizers). Venue: Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, August 27, 2022–January 30, 2023. [exh. cat.]

 

Walt Kuhn, 1877–1949. (exh. cat.  Cincinnati Art Museum). Cincinnati, Ohio: Cincinnati Art Museum, 1960. Ill. no. 92, p. 61 (color).

Painter of Vision: A Retrospective Exhibition of Oils, Watercolors and Drawings by Walt Kuhn, 1877–1949. (exh. cat., University of Arizona Art Gallery). Tucson, Arizona: Board of Regents of the Universities and State College of Arizona, 1966. Ill. p. 119 (black & white).

Adams, Phillip Rhys. Walt Kuhn, Painter: His Life and Work. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 1978. Text p. 200; pl. 120, p. 197 (color), cat. 420, p. 269.

Clown with Drum, Walt Kuhn. Collection Cameo sheet, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, September 1995. Ill. (black & white).

Cartwright, Derrick R. and Paul J. Karlstrom. American Moderns, 1900–1950. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Pl. 19, p. 47 (color).

Cartwright, Derrick R. and Paul J. Karlstrom. L'Amérique et les modernes, 1900–1950. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Pl. 19, p. 47 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. An American Point of View: The Daniel J. Terra Collection. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text pp. 184, 200; ill. pp. 12 (color), 185 (color), 200 (black & white).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Un regard transatlantique. La collection d'art américain de Daniel J. Terra. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text pp. 184, 200; ill. pp. 12 (color), 185 (color), 200 (black & white).

Kennedy, Elizabeth and Sophie Lévy. Faces of America: Portraits of the Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, 1770–1940. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2004. Text p. 32 (checklist); ill. p. 61 (color).

Kennedy, Elizabeth and Sophie Lévy. Visages de l'Amérique: le portrait dans la collection de la Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1770–1940. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2004. Text p. 32 (checklist); ill. p. 61 (color).

Kennedy, Elizabeth. "American Artists and the Louvre." American Art Review (June 2006): 98–107. Text p. 106; ill. p. 106 (color).

Kennedy, Elizabeth and Olivier Meslay, eds. American Artists and the Louvre. (exh. cat.,  Musée du Louvre). Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art; Paris: Musée du Louvre; Paris: Éditions Hazan; Paris: ADAGP, 2006. Tex cat. 1, p. 144; ill. p. 145 (color).

Davidson, Susan, ed. Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation. (exh. cat., National Museum of China, Beijing; Shanghai Museum). New York, NY: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Chicago, IL: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007. (Chinese and English version; citing English version). Ill p. 225 (color).

Davidson, Susan, ed. Art in the USA: 300 años de innovación. (exh. cat., Guggenheim Museum Bilbao). New York, NY: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Chicago, IL: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007. (Spanish version). Ill. p. 177 (color).

Art Across America. (exh. cat., National Museum of Korea, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Terra Foundation for American Art). Seoul, South Korea: National Museum of Korea, 2013. (English and Korean versions). Text p. 309; ill. p. 308 (color).

America: Painting a Nation. (exh. cat., Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the National Museum of Korea, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Terra Foundation for American Art). Sydney, Australia: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2013. Text p. 218; ill. cat. no. 77, p. 219, (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M., and Peter John Brownlee, eds. Conversations with the Collection: A Terra Foundation Collection Handbook. Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2018. Text p. 234; ill. p. 234 (color).

Piccoli, Valéria, Fernanda Pitta, and Taylor Poulin. Pelas ruas: vida moderna e experiências urbanas na arte dos Estados Unidos, 1893-1976. (exh. cat., Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo and Terra Foundation for American Art). São Paulo, Brazil: Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, 2022. Pl. p. 98 (color).