Emma Bormann
Circus
1920s
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Emma Bormann
Circus
1920s
Physical Qualities
Woodcut, Sheet: 438 x 624 mm. (17 1/4 x 24 9/16 in.)
Image: 346 x 421 mm. (13 5/8 x 16 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Blanche Adler
Object Number
1928.30.162
This work depicts a common European one-ring circus. Such circuses had rings that typically measured thirteen meters in diameter with one entrance and one exit—usually on opposite sides of the ring. This uniformity of the ring’s design enabled performers to work at different circuses without having to alter their acts. The waitress carrying a tray with large beer steins in Bormann’s print suggests a German location, perhaps Munich. However this sort of circus could be found all across the European continent.
Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1928; Blanche Adler, Baltimore
Oliver Shell, BMA, "A Circus Family: Picasso to Léger," 22 February through 17 May 2009.
Inscribed: lower right in graphite: "Bormann"; lower left in graphite: "Circus / #14"; lower center in graphite: "Hand print"
Markings: CM: B.A. (Blanche Adler)
