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Images from the World Between: The Circus in Twentieth-Century American Art

October 2001–August 2002

Donna Gustafson, guest curator, is director of exhibitions at the Hunterdon Museum of Art. She was formerly chief curator of exhibitions at the American Federation of Arts.

Described by German literary critic Heinz Politzer as "a world between," the circus is a subject that, for many artists, has been filled with metaphoric possibility, formal experimentation, and exotic allure. Selected by Donna Gustafson, the approximately ninety works comprised paintings, sculpture, prints, and photographs by artists whose bodies of work reflect a sustained or significant interest in the circus, such as Diane Arbus, George Bellows, Alexander Calder, Charles Demuth, and Yasuo Kuniyoshi.

Exhibition Itinerary: Wadsworth Atheneum (October 19, 2001–January 6, 2002); John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art (February 2–May 12, 2002); and the Austin Museum of Art (June 8–August 18, 2002).

The exhibition is organized by the American Federation of Arts.

 Rhona Bitner - From the "Circus" series

Rhona Bitner
 From the "Circus" series, 1991–98
Ilfochrome photograph
8 x 10 inches
Courtesy the artist