Circus Scene

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Department for International Trade, Old Admiralty Building

Circus Scene was produced using a technique known as 'verre églomisé' – where the image is painted in reverse onto a sheet of clear glass. The final image is meant to be seen from the unpainted side. Its flat composition offers limited perspective. The overall quality is decorative, with a medley of circus performers placed around the scene and the beams of light converging on the central figure.

John Cosmo Clark CBE, was a graduate of Goldsmiths College of Art. He fought in both World Wars and was awarded a Military Cross in 1918. He served as Deputy Chief Camouflage Officer for the Air Ministry in 1939. His paintings are characterised by the depiction of everyday activities such as street scenes and cafes, many of which were painted at night. One of Clark’s friends recounted how he would attach small battery-powered lamps to his canvases while painting in the dark. His wife, Jean Clark, was also an accomplished painter, and in 1983 a joint retrospective exhibition of their work was held at the Bankside Gallery in London.

Places

Subjects

whip, horseback, performing arts, acrobat, circus, dance, clown, ball, lilac, iris, tulip, horse, tutu, parasol

Materials & Techniques

oil, glass (glass as material), verre églomisé, oil painting

Artist

Cosmo Clark (1897 - 1967)

Title

Circus Scene

Date

1936

Medium

Verre églomisé (oil on glass)

Dimensions

width: 101.50 cm, height: 127.00 cm

Acquisition

Presented by the Rural Development Commission, January 2000

Inscription

lower left: COSMO CLARK / 1936

Provenance

Given by artist to Rural Industries Bureau, passed to its successor the Council for Small Industries in Rural Areas. inerited by Rural Development Commission 1988 when the two merged.

GAC number

17443