Dublin Core
Title
Description
In Blue Clown, Peck presents a hauntingly stylized figure portrayed almost entirely in deep blue-teal tones, creating a dreamlike yet unsettling atmosphere. Its blue tonal effects are created through the aquatint process, a technique that uses “acid to eat into the printing plate creating sunken areas which hold the ink” (Tate). The clown’s face dominates Peck’s composition, built from geometric contours that curve around exaggerated features: wide circular eyes, a bulbous nose, and sharply angled eyebrow arches and party hat that cut across the upper portion of the image like a dark blade. Fine etched lines and layered textures give the surface a grainy, atmospheric depth while speckled highlights scattered across the background evoke a starry, suspended void. The palette’s limited range intensifies the emotional focus, turning the clown from a symbol of entertainment into a solitary and introspective figure. Within the context of its time, the lithograph can be read as reflecting the psychological isolation felt by many artists during the Great Depression: creative individuals supported by federal programs yet still grappling with uncertainty and alienation. Peck’s distorted proportions and shadowed tonalities subtly transform the clown into a metaphor for the artist himself: a performer expected to produce cultural vitality while privately confronting the quiet anxieties of life in Depression-era America.
About the Artist
Augustus Hamilton Peck, affectionately known as “Gus” to those who worked with him, was born in 1906 in Frederick, Maryland, but spent most of his life growing up in and working in New York City (NYC). He was a painter, an etcher, a cartoonist, an illustrator, and an educator. Most notably, he was a well-known artist working for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project, during which he was known to create works focusing on the figure of the clown. In the late 1930s, WPA Federal Art Program exhibits began popping up across the country to show works of these artists, often encapsulating the theme of Contemporary New York where Mr. Peck’s pieces were featured. Beyond his time working for the WPA, Peck taught art classes to students from working class families in NYC, and later was an illustrator for Fawcett Publications in Connecticut. His passion for the arts was evident when, in 1940, he selected 75 students from Manhattan’s public and private schools to instruct for free during Saturday art classes, in a studio that he borrowed. His friends helped raise $4,000 to fund the project for the students, which was, as Peck called it, “a chance to express their better instincts instead” [of learning how to hate]. Considering himself more of an “editor” than an instructor, Peck helped curate the students’ artwork, who ranged from 10 to 15 years old and represented 24 nations, to be exhibited on the walls of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Many of Peck’s own works are now found in museums across the country. One of his best-known prints, from 1938, is Blue Clown; one amongst dozens of artworks that portray recurring subjects of the clown, human figures, and the circus: Head of a Clown (Clown with Red Nose) 1938; Clown as a Fireman 1937; Circus Boy 1920-34; and Circus, No. 1 1920-30. 20 works at Brooklyn Museum. 14 works at Cleveland Museum of Art. 7 works at Philadelphia Museum of Art.
About the Artist
Augustus Hamilton Peck, affectionately known as “Gus” to those who worked with him, was born in 1906 in Frederick, Maryland, but spent most of his life growing up in and working in New York City (NYC). He was a painter, an etcher, a cartoonist, an illustrator, and an educator. Most notably, he was a well-known artist working for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project, during which he was known to create works focusing on the figure of the clown. In the late 1930s, WPA Federal Art Program exhibits began popping up across the country to show works of these artists, often encapsulating the theme of Contemporary New York where Mr. Peck’s pieces were featured. Beyond his time working for the WPA, Peck taught art classes to students from working class families in NYC, and later was an illustrator for Fawcett Publications in Connecticut. His passion for the arts was evident when, in 1940, he selected 75 students from Manhattan’s public and private schools to instruct for free during Saturday art classes, in a studio that he borrowed. His friends helped raise $4,000 to fund the project for the students, which was, as Peck called it, “a chance to express their better instincts instead” [of learning how to hate]. Considering himself more of an “editor” than an instructor, Peck helped curate the students’ artwork, who ranged from 10 to 15 years old and represented 24 nations, to be exhibited on the walls of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Many of Peck’s own works are now found in museums across the country. One of his best-known prints, from 1938, is Blue Clown; one amongst dozens of artworks that portray recurring subjects of the clown, human figures, and the circus: Head of a Clown (Clown with Red Nose) 1938; Clown as a Fireman 1937; Circus Boy 1920-34; and Circus, No. 1 1920-30. 20 works at Brooklyn Museum. 14 works at Cleveland Museum of Art. 7 works at Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Creator
Peck, Augustus (1906 - 1975)
Publisher
Date
Contributor
Wyatt-Saylor, Savannah (description and biography)
Helquist, Morgan (photography)
Helquist, Morgan (photography)
Source
New Deal Museum, Mount Morris NY
Object #FA 25607
Object #FA 25607
Format
jpeg, 1.7 MB
jpeg, 1.2 MB
jpeg, 1.2 MB
Type
Still Image Item Type Metadata
Original Format
Aquatint and color etching
Physical Dimensions
Image: 11 7/8 x 14 7/8 in.
Sheet: 14 1/8 x 17 7/16 in.
Sheet: 14 1/8 x 17 7/16 in.