Armand Francois Joseph Henrion (Belgian-French, 1875-1958) Oil Painting. Self Portrait as a Clown Smoking a Pipe. Oil on beveled wood panel, stenciled zero (0) on back of panel. The well executed painting depicts a 19th century French harlequin Pierrot clown character or pantomime. Signed lower left, Arm. Henrion. Measures 7.25 inches high, 5.5 inches wide. Elaborate gilt frame measures 12 inches high,10.5 inches wide. In good condition.

From ArtHistoryProject.com: Armand Henrion - Yes, he only paints clowns. One of the most difficult aspects of writing about art history is deciding which artists, of many thousands, should be featured. Obelisk works hard to find under-exposed artists, and occasionally I find an artist so obscure it's like history was actually trying to blot them from the record. With that, let us introduce Armand Francois Joseph Henrion.

Henrion was born in Liege, Belgium on May 30, 1875. We know little about his education, but according to exhibition records he showed his work in Belgian salons and eventually moved to Paris, where he participated in many of the French Salons. His work, as you can see, is very specific, and to many, horrifying. Henrion's oeuvre consists of close-set self-portraits, in the guise of a clown. He appears to be enjoying himself smoking, grimacing, winking and laughing.

Let's address the mime in the room. In contemporary society it's terrifically popular to loath clowns. The pallad visage of clowns and jesters are tropes in horror media, and 'killer clowns'' have even appeared in police reports in recent years. But while Henrion's obsession got him blacklisted by history, at the turn of the century, clowns were not a hated class of performer. Henrion's makeup and expressions imitated one of the most nuanced and popular clowns in history: Pierrot.

The character of Pierrot is the original sad clown, forever pining for the love of the beautiful servant girl, Columbina. Pierrot first appeared in Molieier's play Don Juan, in 1665, and popped up again and again for the next two hundred years, evolving into an archetype: the lonely fool, who masks his cynicism with indolence and humor. Henrion probably first saw Pierrot performed by the legendary French mime Paul Legrand.

From Askart: Armand Francois Joseph Henrion (1875 - 1958) was active/lived in Belgium, France. Armand Henrion is known for Figure and small-scale clown portrait painting. Armand Henrion was born in Liege, Belgium May 30, 1875, and died in Paris in 1958. Although Henrion was born in Liege, he is considered a figure and portrait painter from the French School (he became a naturalized citizen of France).

Henrion's formal education is unknown. According to exhibition records, he was a regular exhibitor at Salons throughout Paris and Belgium. He became know for his small portraits which captured the facial expressions of clowns laughing, singing, smoking (pipes and cigarettes) and other reactions in mime. Most of his clowns are self portraits but he also used Pierrot, a stock character of mime and Commedia dell'Arte and the French variant of the Italian Pedrolino. The noticeable feature in Henrion's Pierrot clown portraits is their naiveté. They are seen as a fool, always the butt of pranks, yet nonetheless trusting. They, like Pierrot, are portrayed as moonstruck, and oblivious to reality.

Condition is in the description