基斯·凡·唐金

藝術家身後
私人收藏， 摩納哥（1960年代前購自上述人士）
私人收藏， 歐洲（購於上述人士)）
賣出：紐約 蘇富比，2006年11月7日，拍品編號50
現有藏家購自上述拍賣會

「基斯．凡．唐金」，巴爾地摩，巴爾地摩藝術博物館與聖路易，聖路易市美術館，1932年
「第10屆奧林匹克運動大會藝術競賽與展覽」，洛杉磯， 1932年，品號301 （稱《平衡》）
「基斯．凡．唐金」，法國阿爾比，土魯斯-羅特列克藝術館，1960年，品號19 （稱 《特技演員》）
巴黎，國立現代藝術博物館與鹿特丹，博曼斯美術館，1967-68年，品號31 （稱 《特技演員》）
「向基斯．凡．唐金致敬」，馬賽， 坎蒂尼博物館，1969年，品號21（稱 《馬戲團的特技演員》）
「向基斯．凡．唐金致敬」，尼斯，休勒美術館，1977年，品號3
「基斯．凡．唐金展覽」，東京，新宿伊勢丹畫廊，1978年，品號12， 圖錄附彩色圖版

路易．休梅爾，《凡．唐金展覽，其人與其藝術-其作品和其人生》，日內瓦，1967年，圖版頁85

Original canvas. Under UV light, several small scattered spots of inpainting are visible along the left edge of the painting, towards the center right edge, and along the bottom edge to address former frame abrasions. As well, there is one 1-inch sized spot of inpainting at the top center edge, one spot five inches to the right of the acrobats right hand, a one inch line of inpainting below the letter "N" in the signature extending to the extreme lower edge, and small scattered spots of inpainting in the hair. However, the red, brown, and green pigments that fluoresce are original pigments. A horizontal stretcher mark in the middle of the painting extends the length of the composition. There is faint craquelure throughout. On the right side above and to the right of the figure's leg, heavy application of the paint has created slight waving of the canvas. Otherwise, the painting is in good condition.
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Painted at the height of Van Dongen's Fauve period, L'Équilibriste is a powerful depiction of a performing acrobat. Van Dongen became associated with the Fauve painters when he first participated in the 1905 Salon d'Automne. While his Fauve contemporaries often depicted landscape motifs in natural light, van Dongen took to the striking effects of electric light in the performance spaces which made up the demi-monde of Paris. As John Elderfield has noted, "By 1905 he had found his way into a loose impromptu style analogous to the mixed-technique Fauvism of the Matisse circle, especially in his paintings of nudes. But the main direction of his art was fast becoming geared to the representation of subjects different from those of the other Fauves" (J. Elderfield, The "Wild Beasts": Fauvism and Its Affinities, New York, 1976, p. 66).

The present work exemplifies van Dongen's highly individualized artistic focus inspired by his visits to the circus. In December of 1905, van Dongen moved with his wife Guus and young daughter Dolly to a studio in the Bateau-Lavoir in Montmartre, a building where Picasso, Gris, Herbin, and other artists lived and worked. Directly opposite van Dongen's studio was that of Picasso and his companion and muse Fernande Olivier. Together with Picasso, van Dongen frequented cafés and cabarets in the area and sought out models for his paintings (fig. 2). Van Dongen often visited the Cirque Médrano (fig. 3), where he would always take his sketchbook, making quick drawings of the acrobats and clowns he would later use for his oils.

Previously known as the Cirque Fernando, the venue was founded in the mid-nineteenth century by the bareback horse rider Ferdinand Beert as a traveling circus. After settling at the top of the rue des Martyrs, it became immortalized by artists including Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Renoir and Seurat. Among the highlights of its program were acrobats, riders, and the popular clown Médrano. He took over the show after a brief closure in 1879, and gave it its name until 1943. Thereafter the circus ran under the name Cirque Montmartre, until it closed in 1963.

L'Équilibriste celebrates van Dongen's fascination with the human body and the allure of the female figure within the dramatic atmosphere of stage performance. While choosing the subject of the human body, van Dongen's primary focus was on the vibrancy of palette and directness of expression rather than anatomical accuracy. The acrobat in the present work is depicted with striking curvature and bold contrast of black and white hues, highlighted by the brilliant spotlight emanating from behind her. Van Dongen's rich shadows are enhanced by the diagonal line slicing down the left side of the image to the performer's balancing hand. By focusing on the shape of the performer as she balances on one arm and arches her legs above her, van Dongen removes other references of the circus and illustrates his interest in movement in an almost abstract form.

The present work marks the period of van Dongen's artistic transformation from a draughtsman to an avant-garde painter and his association with the Fauves. His thick painterly treatment of form illustrates the artist's departure from a more linear technique. Complementing her elegant pose and framing her figure, van Dongen's highlights of red and green color on the woman's hair and body and the pulsating effect of his brushstrokes capture the dynamism of this aesthetic spectacle. Mentioned alongside other artists in the Chronique des Arts, van Dongen was known as one of "a gathering of avant-garde painters, the masters of intense touch and forthright color, the champions of the Salon d'Automne" (quoted in Anita Hopmans, The Van Dongen Nobody Knows, Early Fauvist Drawings 1895-1912, Rotterdam, 1996, p. 67). The present work is characteristic of the bold approach to color which earned van Dongen a place at the forefront of the European avant-garde in the first decade of the twentieth century.