Kendall Fall Collections 2011

Ruth Harris Bohan (1891-1981) The Performance at Fairyland Park c. 1930s oil on canvas 24 x 30 inches signed verso original frame Provenance: Estate of A. Welling LaGrone Jr., Nashville, TN Spencer Museum of Art Lawrence, KS Ruth Henry Fine Arts Exhibited: Lyme Academy Gallery, Edgemarlo Collection of American Women Artists 1860-1960, circa 1987. Ruth Bohan lived and worked for most of her life in Kansas City. She studied painting in the early 1920s at the Kansas City Art Institute with Randall Davey, a student of Robert Henri. Like her Ashcan mentors, Bohan rejected the academic tradition and advocated a direct contact with common subjects of everyday life. She exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Naitonal Academy of Design, and the Corcoran Art Gallery, among other places. While many of Bohan’s paintings are portraits in the manner of Henri, one of her favorite themes was the circus. She frequented Fairyland Park, where she painted behind the scenes portraits of the circus performers as well as the performances themselves. In this painting, the artist gives an impression of the lively atmosphere of the circus, capturing the night lighting, the crush of bodies of the audience, and the excitement, daring, and tawdry elegance of the circus.