Little Juggler (Piccolo giocoliere) Marino Marini

• Created at the height of Marini’s career • Embodies Marini’s exploration of the role of the artist in modern society • From the art collection of Lyonel Feininger The sculpture ‘Little Juggler’ was created in 1953 – at the height of Marini’s artistic career. It forms part of a series of nine bronze figures depicting jugglers and acrobats: slender, angular figures, frozen in moments of tense movement. In these works, Marini explores themes such as posture, balance and the precarious equilibrium of human existence in a striking manner. Jugglers first appeared in Marini’s work in the 1920s, alongside dancers, acrobats and harlequins. These motifs reflect his lifelong fascination with the world of the circus – a subject that also preoccupied artists such as Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. Circus performers live on the margins of society, lead a nomadic existence and offer their art to the public as a performance. In them, Marini and his contemporaries see a deeper metaphor for modern life: the artist as an outsider, a figure caught between the stage and reality. Our juggler stretches a short rope between his hands, seemingly forming a halo above his head – a sign of transcendence as well as an element of self-presentation. The body is dynamically twisted, held in an exaggerated contrapposto, the movement frozen in a moment of tension between playfulness and seriousness. The art historian Sam Hunter describes Marini’s jugglers as "heirs to a long and noble tradition of depictions of Commedia dell’Arte actors, [who] can scarcely bear their calling." They belong to the world of entertainment, yet at the same time appear detached – impatient, melancholic, critical. In them, a sense of alienation and fragility in a changing world is condensed. | 1901 Pistoia - Viareggio 1980 | Moderne Kunst | Skulptur/Objekt/Multiple | Nummer: 25x1449 | Provenance: Curt Valentin Gallery, New York (1953); Julia und Lyonel Feininger, New York, bei der Vorgenannten erworben; Andreas Feininger, durch Erbfolge; Wysse Gertrud Hägg-Feininger, durch Erbfolge; Tomas Feininger (1935–2019), Québec, durch Erbfolge; Tomas Feininger Nachlass, Québec.

Estimate:$44,909

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