Percy Wyndham Lewis

Edward Wadsworth, A.R.A.
Graham Gallery, New York
Sale, Sotheby's London, 6th October 1993, lot 115, where acquired by David Bowie

London, Tate, Wyndham Lewis and Vorticism, 6th July - 19th August 1956, cat. no.37;
London, Austin/Desmond Fine Art, Wyndham Lewis, 1882 - 1957, 1990, cat. no.8, illustrated p.22;
London, Olympia, Wyndham Lewis: an Exhibition within the Fine Art, Design & Antiques Fair, Olympia, 1st - 6th March 2005, un-numbered catalogue (WL-050), illustrated n.p.;
Madrid, Fundación Juan March, Wyndham Lewis 1882-1957, 5th February - 16th May 2010, cat. no.44, illustrated p.143.

Walter Michel, Wyndham Lewis, Paintings and Drawings, Thames & Hudson, London, 1971, p.358, no.160, illustrated pl.24;
Richard Cork, Art Beyond the Gallery in Early 20th Century England, Yale University Press, 1985, p.111, illustrated pl.141 (as Cabaret Theatre Scene);
Paul Edwards, Wyndham Lewis: Painter and Writer, Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2000, illustrated p.119.

The following report has been prepared by Jane McAusland ACR FIIC, Conservator and Restorer of Art on Paper, of Nether Hall Barn, Old Newton, Nr Stowmarket, Suffolk, IP14 4PP: Support This watercolour is on a sheet of laid-type paper fully adhered to Japan paper inlaid into a thin card.  There are two long supported splits lower right on a diagonal line and upper right top corner running horizontally into the composition, along weak ink lines.  There is some slight mottled foxing in light areas and also darker areas adjacent to some lines of brown ink.  The condition is otherwise good.  Medium The medium is in a good condition, though the ink has weakened the sheet in places.  Note: This work was viewed outside studio conditions. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

In Circus Scene, although we see all of Lewis’ trademark machine-like rendition of the body, the overall sense is more of one of Kandinsky’s ‘improvisations’ from his Der Blaue Reiter period (entirely contemporary to this piece) with the free-wheeling composition circling around an empty centre, any sense of ‘narrative’ reduced to abstracted symbols denoting actions and mood, man and horse rendered as Palaeolithic pictograms, right down to the all-over synaesthetic blue tone, for Kandinsky the colour of the infinite. Inevitably, though, Lewis’ insistent angular line draws us back from such mysticism, replacing it with its hard urban cousin, dystopia. His work always has the air of a Fritz Lang film to it, something that perhaps drew David Bowie to Lewis’ work, having been so inspired by Lang’s Metropolis in the 1970s.

Lewis had a lifelong fascination with the world of the stage. Whether it be the circus, playhouse, ballet or cabaret, the theatricality of these shows tapped into his fascination with the absurdist nature of life, and formed for him a constant source of inspiration in his work.  Early in his career he noted the carnival he saw in Brittany was: ‘the fete of the fishing population…beneath the pretexts of “things to be seen,” sideshows, stalls, dances, circuses etc…has for its chief use the gathering together of a vast and odourless concourse of people…that true and ideal societies may be form’d’ (Wyndham Lewis, A Breton Journal, 1908, quoted in Austin/Desmond Fine Art, Wyndham Lewis, Bloomsbury, 1990, p.22). Circus Scene brings together just such a motley crew, from the well-coiffed audience members, to the top of a farcical clown’s head, to the whip wielding ringmaster. Lewis’ vision forms a droll satire, an intense sardonic imagining, encapsulating in one image a lively sense of wit and humour which pervades so much of both his painted and written work.