Tight Rope Performer
Medium
Lithograph
Dimensions
Image: 13 in. × 8 3/4 in. (33 × 22.2 cm) Sheet: 16 in. × 11 1/2 in. (40.6 × 29.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1940
Accession Number
40.111.34
Art Historical Context
**Tight Rope Performer** (1938) is a captivating lithograph by Yasuo Kunoshi, a Japanese-born American artist renowned for his modernist figurative style. Created during the Great Depression as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Art Project, this print captures the daring poise of a circus tightrope walker, evoking the thrill and precariousness of performance. Kuniyoshi, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1906 and became a key figure American modernism, often drew inspiration from everyday spectacles like the circus, infusing them with dynamic energy and subtle surrealism. Printed in ...