Clown in Art

A Hungarian artist who looks as severe as this...

...is not someone who I would expect to be filled with whimsy, but László Moholy-Nagy is full of surprises. 

Here is a work of art that I have long been a fan of. It's a small 10x12 inch work of ink and crayon on paper that proves you can find clown in almost any medium.

I think this is a fine example of clown work in the form of visual art. The more you look at it the more you see the fly and the more the narrative begins to clarify itself in your imagination. It becomes clear that this is physical comedy, slapstick even. I know when I look at it, I immediately smile. On Wikipedia, the definition of slapstick, and I think it's a good one, is comedy "involving exaggerated physical activity which exceeds the boundaries of common sense." Is this not most assuredly that?

Okay, but clown purists will tell me that clown is not just about physical humor. There's vulnerability. There's a connection with the audience. I don't know about you, but the tiny little dots and short lines do show vulnerability to me. You see how the life of this little fly is rife with peril, constantly on the move.

The connection with the audience is the one that confused me at first. Unlike if I were performing as a clown on the stage or in the circus, this is a medium--like Chaplin or Keaton on film--where there cannot be direct eye contact between audience and clown. But for me the moment you learn the title is the moment of connection for the clown and his audience. You go to a museum and see this piece. You walk over to it. It looks interesting. Then you look over next to it and see the title, "Diary of a Fly." In that moment you have a connection with the clown-artist. You can see him giving a sheepish shrugging look as if to say, "Well?" And you think, "Ahhhhaha. I see what you did there."


For me, this little drawing is as much a clown piece as Lorenzo Pisoni climbing the ladder in Humor Abuse. What do you think? Can you find clown in this?