"Staging The Act" by Hyman Bloom, Latvian-Amer., (1913-2009)

Pencil Drawing, ca. 1930, 10-3/8 x 14-1/2, on buff wove paper, signed with initials lower right, tack holes to top corners, a small V shaped loss in the top left margin corner, three discreet repaired edge tears just into image at top and bottom left.

Early in his youth in Boston, Hyman Bloom with his friend Jack Levine would attend the circus when it came to town. The exotic costumes, wild animals and feats of daring provided great subject matter for their prodigious memories and mastery of the figure.

Recto

This loose and confident early group figure study by Bloom seems to show a couple of circus acrobats backstage dressing for a performance while a crew readies a stage, jump, or a ramp in the background. The rhythmic curves of the figures echo each other as they move the viewer's eye across the sheet from foreground to the two distant figures at right. There is a pencil study of three related figures verso. Ex-collection MIrski Gallery, Boston; for many years Bloom's dealer. A beautiful two-sided sheet of a favorite early subject of the artist.

Verso

Unsigned, preliminary study of three figures which relate to the drawing shown above. The rhythmic curves out of which these figures evolve echo each other as the young artist explores form and placement for the composition. Ex-collection MIrski Gallery, Boston; for many years Bloom's dealer. A beautiful two-sided sheet of a favorite early subject of the artist.