Liberty Bros. Permanent Daily Circus - Army of Clowns
Liberty Bros. Permanent Daily Circus - Army of Clowns
Artist
Michael Ray Charles
(born 1967)
Date1995
MediumAcrylic latex, oil wash and stain, and copper penny on paper
Dimensions60 1/4 x 36 in. (153 x 91.4 cm)
Framed: 65 1/4 in. × 41 in. × 1 7/8 in.
Framed: 65 1/4 in. × 41 in. × 1 7/8 in.
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, Gift of Moody Gallery, Houston, Texas, in honor of Don Bacigalupi, 2011.33
Signedl.r., in black paint: Michael Ray Charles 95
Accession number
2011.33
On View
Not on viewLabel TextBlack faced, clad in clown garb, and wielding a hammer, a frightening figure approaches with a manic grimace. To our modern eyes, the image appears racist and insensitive: that, in part, is the artist’s point. This painting is one in a series of fictional circus posters in which black figures perform stereotypical roles. In this specific work, the artist criticizes the notion that black men are violent figures in society.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, demeaning stereotypes of African Americans appeared throughout popular culture, reducing people to grotesque, childlike, or threatening caricatures. By unearthing this imagery in his paintings, Michael Ray Charles reveals how America’s past representations of black people continue to influence today’s portrayals and prejudices.
Charles affixed a penny alongside his signature in the bottom left corner of the painting. This gesture carries a charged meaning: the penny is the coin with lowest value and the only coin that is a different color from the others in the standard American monetary system.
