Woodcut in colors.
Not in Dube (cf. Dube H 428). Signed and dated. On off-white paper. 17.5 x 12.8 cm. Sheet: 23,8 x 16 cm.
. [CH].
- Strong print in two contrasting colors. - The world of vaudeville, theater and circus was one of the main motifs of the "Brücke" artists and had a lasting influence on Heckel's work up to his late creative period. - Heckel used a famous film still from the 1928 silent film "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" (directed by Herbert Brenon and Ray Lissner), which shows the American actor Lon Chaney (1883-1930) posing in front of a mirror dressed as a Pierrot. - Heckel also used the motif in other prints as well as in watercolors of the same name (1931, Städel Museum, Frankfurt a. M.) and two paintings (1930, destroyed and 1946, Museum Folkwang, Essen). - Further copies of the color woodcut are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Museum Folkwang, Essen.
LITERATURE: Heinz Spielmann (ed.), Die Maler der Brücke. Sammlung Hermann Gerlinger, Stuttgart 1995, p. 345, SHG no. 579b (illu.). Hermann Gerlinger, Katja Schneider (eds.), Die Maler der Brücke. Inventory catalog Hermann Gerlinger Collection, Halle (Saale) 2005, p. 267, SHG no. 607 (illu.).
Erich Heckel 
