Mommie Schwarz 1876–1942 “ Yellow Stupor ” Circa 1903–1909

Country: Netherlands, Belgium, Germany

Artist: Mommie Schwarz 1876–1942

Subject: The yellow clown stands facing the viewer, depicted in Edvard Munch’s convulsive and tortured style (The Scream). His costume, a strident, acid-yellow, screams a break with a world that can be so cruel and inhuman. With his hands raised, palms open and facing the audience, the performer seems to want to ward off ancestral fears. Rendered with great texture, in thick, tormented layers of paint, his face takes on the geometric, elongated, and hieratic features of an African mask—an aesthetic then at the heart of the Cubist revolutions. His wide-open eyes no longer mimic comedy; they stare in horror at the absurdity of a world. Finally, on his head, worn like a final affirmation of identity amid the chaos, a kippah is visible. In Berlin, Else Berg studied art and saw the circus as a symbol of absolute bohemian freedom. It is also possible that this work depicts the human madness of the trenches in 1914 and youth lost to the cruelty of men. To each their own interpretation of this poignant work, which hypnotizes the viewer like a tribal sorcerer summoning the spirits of the jungle—unless it is, in fact, his self-portrait that transforms his anxieties

Medium: original oil on canvas

Dimensions: 43 cm x 57 cm unframed

Frame: original frame

Signature: I needed the help of a friend who is a graphologist and art expert to decipher the signature (signature: M S C H W A R Z)

Condition: in its original state (I haven’t yet decided what to do about restoring it); I figure that if an institution is interested in the work, it would prefer that it remain untouched. 

* Note that the work was painted over another work; I plan to have X-rays taken soon (where there are gaps, another composition is visible)

** On view at “Sablon Antiques Center,” 39, Place du Grand Sablon, 1000 Brussels

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