Estimate: $3,000 - $5,000
American Furniture, Folk and Decorative Arts
Auction: November 15, 2022 12:00 PM EDT
Comprising uniformed performers on stage, ballerina with doves, and three trapeze or balancing acts, most signed, "A. Navarro/ dit Hopp."
H: 21 in. W: 26 1/2 in. D: 10 in. (soldiers on stage)Provenance
Private Philadelphia collection.
Note
Roger Guit was a French artist known for his clown paintings. "Hopp" likely refers to the name of a clown who performed with the famous Cirque Medrano of Paris in the 1940s and 1950s. These carved and painted figures are probably interpretations of actual Medrano performers and acts. Located at 63 Boulevard de Rochechouart at the edge of the Montmarte, the Cirque Medrano was a popular meeting place and inspirational source for many artists of the late 19th and first half of the 20th century-including Toulouse-Lautrec, Leger, Picasso, Braque and Kees van Dongen. The site was cleared in the 1970s, but the Cirque Medrano is active today as a traveling circus.