$76,000
Sold
sold
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Description
30" (76 cm.) Standing upon a wooden platform with
five-step stairway,gracefully-edged shape and
painted and carpeted floor are two clowns,ready to
perform. Each has a head modeled of plaster
composition with oil-painted clown complexions and
decorations,piercingly brilliant blue glass
eyes,articulated eyelids,white mohair clown
wig,and silk costume embroidered with musical
symbols. One has a well-defined scowling
expression and the other has a wide beaming smile
with defined teeth. The "instruments" are
whimsical confections,one wrought from a saucepan
and the other carved of wood. Movement and Music.
On cue,they begin their stage act,heads turning
side-to-side,eyes blinking,and step-marching in
unison while strumming their instruments. Then the
sullen clown suddenly attempts to kick the
cheerful clown off the stage. The cheerful clown
is indifferent. He simply turns in the other
direction and kicks out of sequence. Music
accompanies their performance and a large
Vichy-style motor drives the movements from six
cams. Vichy/Triboulet,circa 1910. The automaton
was acquired by Jerry and Bunny Steinbaum in a
collection sale in Monaco in 1984. The scene of
competing personalities,almost a comedy/tragedy
theme may have been inspired by the vastly popular
tales of "Jean qui rire" and "Jean qui pleure"
that were fixtures in Parisian popular culture at
the end of the 19th century,and whose
manifestations included Offenbach's 1864 operetta
and the early silent film of Louis Lumiere that
showed in Paris in 1897.