T. S. Robert – Risqué Acrobatic Performer Balancing a Dog Circa 1910

This delightfully eccentric original illustration in postcard format depicts a female circus or music-hall performer executing an improbable balancing act. Bent dramatically forward with her red skirts tossed up around her waist, she balances a small dog upon the soles of her raised feet. Her long black stockings and red garters heighten the composition’s deliberately risqué, comic character.

Executed in watercolour and ink over a lightly drawn pencil sketch, the composition is handled with remarkable economy. Brilliant scarlet, deep black and soft washes of pink and grey establish the figure and animals against the otherwise untouched paper. The fluid outlines, exaggerated silhouettes and fashionable theatrical humour are characteristic of French illustration during the Belle Époque.

The work is signed “T. S. Robert” at lower left. An illustrator using this signature is known from postcard designs associated with the French satirical magazine Le Sourire. Published in Paris, Le Sourire specialised in humorous, fashionable and gently erotic imagery.

A wonderfully spirited survival from the golden age of French illustrated humour, combining circus spectacle, animal comedy and a mischievously indecorous point of view.

Watercolour and ink over pencil on postcard-weight paper.  Undated but based on other postcard designs by this artist, we believe it is circa 1910.
Condition:  As shown, light age discoloration and a few spots.
Dimensions: Small postcard format, 9 x 14 cm.
No frame or mat

PLEASE NOTE: The artwork is not framed. This digital mockup represents what it might look like in a frame.