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Utah Museum of Fine Arts opens Georges Rouault: Cirque de l’Etoile Filante (Circus of the Shooting Star)

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts presents Georges Rouault: Cirque de l’Etoile Filante (Circus of the Shooting Star) an exhibition on view February 3 – May 13, 2012.

Georges Rouault, La petite Ecuyere, 1935, color etching and aqua, courtesy of the Syracuse University Art Collection. On view in Georges Rouault: Circus of the Shooting Star.

Artist Georges Roualt was fascinated by the circus, a world where superficial brightness was underscored by overwhelming sadness. The images in his portfolio of etchings, Cirque de l’Etoile Filante (Circus of the Shooting Star), demonstrate Rouault’s attempt to strip away the “spangles” of the clown’s costume and reveal the “reflection of paradise lost.” On loan to the UMFA from the Syracuse University Art Galleries, this exhibition comprises color etchings that introduce the portfolio and wood engravings illustrating Rouault’s text. Begun in 1926 and published in 1938, the portfolio was the product of Rouault’s collaboration with Parisian publisher and art dealer Ambrose Vollard. Their partnership proved to be one of the most productive in the history of printmaking.

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