Clown on a Cart

Currently not on view

Clown on a Cart

1917

Rockwell Kent (American, 1882–1971)

Kent made his first foray into commercial advertising with a series of nostalgic designs for Adams Black Jack chewing gum that evoked the popular amusements of the late Victorian era. This drawing shows a crowd enjoying a parade featuring a circus clown on a cart pulled by a donkey. The ads were never published, probably because the product they were meant to promote was not depicted in any of the designs. Kent signed this and many other early commercial illustrations with the pseudonym “Hogarth Jr.,” a clever nod to the famous eighteenth-century British printmaker and social satirist William Hogarth.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

Clown on a Cart
Study for an advertisement for Adams Black Jack chewing gum

Date:

1917

Artist:

Rockwell Kent (American, 1882–1971)

Medium:

Pen and black ink over traces of graphite, on thin coated fabric

Dimensions:

Image: 5 1/4 x 5 1/8 inches (13.3 x 13 cm) Sheet: 6 x 5 5/8 inches (15.2 x 14.3 cm)

Classification:

Drawings

Credit Line:

Purchased with the Lola Downin Peck Fund from the Carl and Laura Zigrosser Collection, 1971

Accession Number:

1971-2-179

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Currently not on view