Clowns

Whatever his costume and his act, the clown is certainly the symbol even the circus. Even if it does not have any ancestors, strictly speaking, some have wanted to assume that the character could have some distant resemblances with the farces of the Middle Ages or Italian comedy. However, the figure of the clown appeared in the 19th century, first in England, then in France. He is a novelty which is gradually becoming established, abandoning the tricks of the acrobat, of the tightrope walker, of the athlete in short. By thus abandoning the feats bodily, the clown becomes a being apart, a being of art and spectacle, a spiritual being, who manages to produce an entire show on his own. And it is no doubt why the clown did not fail to arouse the curiosity of numerous writers and artists, some of whom have been brought together in this volume works in order to pay homage, as it should be, to this very singular figure live performance. As the Livrets d'art collection wants, the present The work includes a notebook of images in which they have been carefully collected reproductions of works to illustrate the texts devoted to the figure of clown.