The Transylvanian Museum of Ethnography, public cultural institution under the auspices of the Cluj City Council, invites you at the opening of the lithography exhibition L’air du cirque on 2nd of March, 2016, at 6 p.m., in Reduta Hall (Memorandum Street no. 21). The exhibition, organised by the Transylvanian Museum of Ethnography, in partnership with Euro Art Lulxembourg, contains 84 works signed by 21st of the most important French artists of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The circus world with jugglers, clowns, with its special beauties, with wild animals and numbers of extraordinary training, with its bright joys and lights, has always been a magnet for artists.
The most important segment of the exhibition presents the creation of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the exhibited works coming from the first edition in English language of the book “The Circus”, edited in 1952. There are 39 facsimiles made in grand-technique by Andre Sauret, published by Fernand Mourlout following the pencil drawings made by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The book “L’Air du Cirque” was written by Louise Hervieu and published in 1924 in Librairie de France, Paris, being considered a masterpiece of the universal literature. Like a circus program, this book involves us in a fascinating show. Some of the most important and beautiful lithographs made by Pablo Picasso, Hermann paul, Pierre Laprade, Luc-Albert Moreau, Jean Cocteau, Dunoyer de Segonzac are presented in the exhibition and illustrate the mentioned book.
The Circus also inspired the great artist Marc Chagall. In some of his most important works, Chagall used the lithography technique to create posters printed in Fernard Mourlot’s studio in Paris. This technique was used also for making the invitations at the art exhibitions. The one you can admire now at the Transilvanian Museum of Ethnography was printed by Charles Sourlier and refers to Chagall’s exhibition in 1969-1970 from Grand Palais in Paris.
The exhibition also presents the lithographs of the Lithuanian photographer Izis Biedermanas. Another 15 lithographs are signed by Camille Hilaire, illustrating the book “Circus” by Françoise Maillet Joris, published at Editions Robert Mauret, Paris, 1974, in an edition of 220 copies. The whole exhibition is a fascinating one, unique in its kind, representing the human universe seen / perceived by the circus world.
The exhibition is open from 2nd of March until 24th of April 2016.