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Clown
A typical clown of the Western "buffoon" tradition
A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. The art of performing as a clown is known as clowning or buffoonery, and the term "clown" may be used synonymously with predecessors like jester, buffoon, joker, fool, or harlequin. Clowns have a diverse tradition with significant variations in costume and performance. The most recognisable clowns are those that commonly perform in the circus, characterized by colorful wigs, red noses, and oversized shoes. However, clowns have also played roles in theater and folklore, like the court jesters of the Middle Ages and the jesters and ritual clowns of various indigenous cultures. Their performances can elicit a range of emotions, from humor and laughter to fear and discomfort, reflecting complex societal and psychological dimensions. Through the centuries, clowns have continued to play significant roles in society, evolving alongside changing cultural norms and artistic expressions.[1][2][3][4]
History
The most ancient clowns have been found in the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt, around 2400 BC.[5] Unlike court jesters,[dubious – discuss] clowns have traditionally served a socio-religious and psychological role, and traditionally[when?] the roles of priest and clown have been held by the same persons.[5]
Peter Berger writes, "It seems plausible that folly and fools, like religion and magic, meet some deeply rooted needs in human society."[6] For this reason, clowning is often considered an important part of training as a physical performance discipline, partly because tricky subject matter can be dealt with, but also because it requires a high level of risk and play in the performer.[7]
In anthropology, the term clown has been extended to comparable jester or fool characters in non-Western cultures. A society in which such clowns have an important position are termed clown societies, and a clown character involved in a religious or ritual capacity is known as a ritual clown.[8][9][10]
Many native tribes have a history of clowning, such as the Pueblo clown of the Kachina culture. A Heyoka is an individual in Lakota and Dakota cultures who lives outside the constraints of normal cultural roles, playing the role of a backwards clown by doing everything in reverse. The Heyoka role is sometimes best filled by a Winkte. Canadian First Nations also feature jester-like ritual performers, translated by one Anishinaabe activist as "Harlequins", though the exact nature of their role is kept secret from non-members of the tribe into the present day.[11]
The Canadian clowning method developed by Richard Pochinko and furthered by his former apprentice, Sue Morrison, combines European and Native American clowning techniques. In this tradition, masks are made of clay while the creator's eyes are closed. A mask is made for each direction of the medicine wheel. During this process, the clown creates a personal mythology that explores their personal experiences.
"Grimaldi was the first recognizable ancestor of the modern clown, sort of the Homo erectus of clown evolution. Before him, a clown may have worn make-up, but it was usually just a bit of rouge on the cheeks to heighten the sense of them being florid, funny drunks or rustic yokels. Grimaldi, however, suited up in bizarre, colorful costumes, stark white face paint punctuated by spots of bright red on his cheeks and topped with a blue mohawk. He was a master of physical comedy—he leapt in the air, stood on his head, fought himself in hilarious fisticuffs that had audiences rolling in the aisles—as well as of satire lampooning the absurd fashions of the day, comic impressions, and ribald songs."
—The History and Psychology of Clowns Being Scary, Smithsonian.[12]
The circus clown tradition developed out of earlier comedic roles in theatre or Varieté shows during the 19th to mid 20th centuries. This recognizable character features outlandish costumes, distinctive makeup, colorful wigs, exaggerated footwear, and colorful clothing, with the style generally being designed to entertain large audiences.[12]
The first mainstream clown role was portrayed by Joseph Grimaldi (who also created the traditional whiteface make-up design). In the early 1800s, he expanded the role of Clown in the harlequinade that formed part of British pantomimes, notably at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and the Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden theatres. He became so dominant on the London comic stage that harlequinade Clowns became known as "Joey", and both the nickname and Grimaldi's whiteface make-up design are still used by other clowns.[12]
The comedy that clowns perform is usually in the role of a fool whose everyday actions and tasks become extraordinary—and for whom the ridiculous, for a short while, becomes ordinary. This style of comedy has a long history in many countries and cultures across the world. Some writers have argued that due to the widespread use of such comedy and its long history it is a need that is part of the human condition.[13]
The modern clowning school of comedy in the 21st century diverged from white-face clown tradition, with more of an emphasis on personal vulnerability[14] and heightened sexuality.[15]
Origin
The clown character developed out of the zannirustic fool characters of the early modern commedia dell'arte, which were themselves directly based on the rustic fool characters of ancient Greek and Roman theatre. Rustic buffoon characters in Classical Greek theater were known as sklêro-paiktês (from paizein: to play (like a child)) or deikeliktas, besides other generic terms for rustic or peasant. In Roman theater, a term for clown was fossor, literally digger; labourer.
The English word clown was first recorded c. 1560 (as clowne, cloyne) in the generic meaning rustic, boor, peasant. The origin of the word is uncertain, perhaps from a Scandinavian word cognate with clumsy.[a] It is in this sense that Clown is used as the name of fool characters in Shakespeare's Othello and The Winter's Tale. The sense of clown as referring to a professional or habitual fool or jester developed soon after 1600, based on Elizabethanrustic fool characters such as Shakespeare's.
The harlequinade developed in England in the 17th century, inspired by Arlecchino and the commedia dell'arte. It was here that Clown came into use as the given name of a stock character. Originally a foil for Harlequin's slyness and adroit nature, Clown was a buffoon or bumpkin fool who resembled less a jester than a comical idiot. He was a lower class character dressed in tattered servants' garb.
The now-classical features of the clown character were developed in the early 1800s by Joseph Grimaldi, who played Clown in Charles Dibdin's 1800 pantomime Peter Wilkins: or Harlequin in the Flying World at Sadler's Wells Theatre, where Grimaldi built the character up into the central figure of the harlequinade.[17][18]
The circus clown developed in the 19th century. The modern circus derives from Philip Astley's London riding school, which opened in 1768. Astley added a clown to his shows to amuse the spectators between equestrian sequences. American comedianGeorge L. Fox became known for his clown role, directly inspired by Grimaldi, in the 1860s.
Tom Belling senior (1843–1900) developed the red clown or Auguste (Dummer August) character c. 1870, acting as a foil for the more sophisticated white clown. Belling worked for Circus Renz in Vienna. Belling's costume became the template for the modern stock character of circus or children's clown, based on a lower class or hobo character, with red nose, white makeup around the eyes and mouth, and oversized clothes and shoes. The clown character as developed by the late 19th century is reflected in Ruggero Leoncavallo's 1892 opera Pagliacci (Clowns).
Belling's Auguste character was further popularized by Nicolai Poliakoff's Coco in the 1920s to 1930s.
The English word clown was borrowed, along with the circus clown act, by many other languages, such as French clown, Russian (and other Slavic languages) кло́ун, Greek κλόουν, Danish/Norwegian klovn, Romanian clovn etc.
Italian retains Pagliaccio, a Commedia dell'arte zanni character,[b] and derivations of the Italian term are found in other Romance languages, such as French Paillasse, Spanish payaso, Catalan/Galician pallasso, Portuguese palhaço, Greek παλιάτσος, Turkish palyaço, German Pajass (via French)[19] Yiddish פּאַיאַץ (payats), Russian пая́ц, Romanian paiață.
20th-century North America
In the early 20th century, with the disappearance of the rustic simpleton or village idiot character of everyday experience, North American circuses developed characters such as the tramp or hobo. Examples include Marceline Orbes, who performed at the Hippodrome Theater (1905), Charlie Chaplin's The Tramp (1914), and Emmett Kelly's Weary Willie based on hobos of the Depression era. Another influential tramp character was played by Otto Griebling during the 1930s to 1950s. Red Skelton's Dodo the Clown in The Clown (1953), depicts the circus clown as a tragicomic stock character, "a funny man with a drinking problem".[citation needed]
In the United States, Bozo the Clown was an influential Auguste character since the late 1950s. The Bozo Show premiered in 1960 and appeared nationally on cable television in 1978. McDonald's derived its mascot clown, Ronald McDonald, from the Bozo character in the 1960s. Willard Scott, who had played Bozo during 1959–1962, performed as the mascot in 1963 television spots. The McDonald's trademark application for the character dates to 1967.
Based on the Bozo template, the US custom of birthday clown, private contractors who offer to perform as clowns at children's parties, developed in the 1960s to 1970s. The strong association of the (Bozo-derived) clown character with children's entertainment as it has developed since the 1960s also gave rise to Clown Care or hospital clowning in children's hospitals by the mid-1980s. Clowns of America International (established 1984) and World Clown Association (established 1987) are associations of semi-professionals and professional performers.
The shift of the Auguste or red clown character from his role as a foil for the white in circus or pantomime shows to a Bozo-derived standalone character in children's entertainment by the 1980s also gave rise to the evil clown character, with the attraction of clowns for small children being based in their fundamentally threatening or frightening nature.[c] The fear of clowns, particularly circus clowns, has become known by the term "coulrophobia."[24]
The classical pairing of the White Clown with Auguste in modern tradition
has a precedent in the pairing of Pierrot and Harlequin in the Commedia dell'arte.
Originally, Harlequin's role was that of a light-hearted, nimble and astute servant, paired with the sterner and melancholic Pierrot.
In the 18th-century English Harlequinade, Harlequin was now paired with Clown.
As developed by Joseph Grimaldi around 1800, Clown became the mischievous and brutish foil for the more sophisticated Harlequin, who became more of a romantic character. The most influential such pair in Victorian England were the Payne Brothers, active during the 1860s and 1870s.
White and Auguste
Les Rossyann, white clown and clumsy Auguste from France
The white clown, or clown blanc in French, is a sophisticated character, as opposed to the clumsy Auguste.[25] The two types are also distinguished as the sad clown (blanc) and happy clown (Auguste).[26]
The Auguste face base makeup color is a variation of pink, red, or tan rather than white. Features are exaggerated in size, and are typically red and black in color. The mouth is thickly outlined with white (called the muzzle) as are the eyes. Appropriate to the character, the Auguste can be dressed in either well-fitted garb or a costume that does not fit – oversize or too small, either is appropriate. Bold colors, large prints or patterns, and suspenders often characterize Auguste costumes.
The Auguste character-type is often an anarchist, a joker, or a fool. He is clever and has much lower status than the whiteface. Classically the whiteface character instructs the Auguste character to perform his bidding. The Auguste has a hard time performing a given task, which leads to funny situations. Sometimes the Auguste plays the role of an anarchist and purposefully has trouble following the whiteface's directions. Sometimes the Auguste is confused or is foolish and makes errors less deliberately.
The contra-auguste plays the role of the mediator between the white clown and the Auguste character. He has a lower status than the white clown but a higher status than the Auguste. He aspires to be more like the white clown and often mimics everything the white clown does to try to gain approval. If there is a contra-auguste character, he often is instructed by the whiteface to correct the Auguste when he is doing something wrong.
G.L. Fox, the original Humpty Dumpty, c. 1860s
There are two major types of clowns with whiteface makeup:
The classic white clown is derived from the Pierrot character. His makeup is white, usually with facial features such as eyebrows emphasized in black. He is the more intelligent and sophisticated clown, contrasting with the rude or grotesque Auguste types. Francesco Caroli and Glenn "Frosty" Little are examples of this type. The second type of whiteface is the buffoonish clown of the Bozo type, known as Comedy or Grotesque Whiteface. This type has grotesquely emphasized features, especially a red nose and red mouth, often with partial (mostly red) hair.
In the comedic partnership of Abbott and Costello, Bud Abbot would have been the classic whiteface and Lou Costello the comedy whiteface or Auguste.[27]
Traditionally, the whiteface clown uses clown white makeup to cover the entire face and neck, leaving none of the underlying natural skin visible.[28] In the European whiteface makeup, the ears are painted red.
Whiteface makeup was originally designed by Joseph Grimaldi in 1801. He began by painting a white base over his face, neck and chest before adding red triangles on the cheeks, thick eyebrows and large red lips set in a mischievous grin. Grimaldi's design is used by many modern clowns. According to Grimaldi's biographer Andrew McConnell Stott, it was one of the most important theatrical designs of the 1800s.[28]
America's first great whiteface clown was stage star George "G.L." Fox. Inspired by Grimaldi, Fox popularised the Humpty Dumpty stories throughout the U.S. in the 1860s.
The scary clown, also known as the evil clown or killer clown, is a subversion of the traditional comic clown character, in which the playful trope is instead depicted in a more disturbing nature through the use of horror elements and dark humor. The character can be seen as playing on the sense of unease felt by those with coulrophobia, the fear of clowns. The modern archetype of the evil clown was popularized by DC Comics character the Joker starting in 1940 and again by Pennywise in Stephen King's novel It, which introduced the fear of an evil clown to a modern audience. In the novel, the eponymous character is a pan-dimensional monster which feeds mainly on children by luring them in the form of a clown, named "Pennywise", and then assuming the shape of whatever the victim fears the most.
The character clown makeup is a comic slant on the standard human face. Their makeup starts with a flesh tone base and may make use of anything from glasses, mustaches and beards to freckles, warts, big ears or strange haircuts.
The most prevalent character clown in the American circus is the hobo, tramp or bum clown. There are subtle differences in the American character clown types. The primary differences among these clown types is attitude. According to American circus expert Hovey Burgess,[where?] they are:
The Hobo: Migratory and finds work where he travels. Down on his luck but maintains a positive attitude.
The Tramp: Migratory and does not work where he travels. Down on his luck and depressed about his situation.
The Bum: Non-migratory and non-working.
Organizations
The World Clown Association is a worldwide organization for clowns, jugglers, magicians, and face painters. It holds an annual convention, mainly in the United States.
Clowns of America International is a Minnesota-based non-profit clown arts membership organization which aims "to share, educate, and act as a gathering place for serious minded amateurs, semiprofessionals, and professional clowns".
Clowns International is a British clowning organisation dating back to the 1940s. It is responsible for the Clown Egg Register.[29]
Terminology
Roles and skills
In the circus, a clown might perform other circus roles or skills. Clowns may perform such skills as tightrope, juggling, unicycling, Master of Ceremonies, or ride an animal. Clowns may also "sit in" with the orchestra. Other circus performers may also temporarily stand in for a clown and perform their skills in clown costume.
Frameworks
Frameworks are the general outline of an act that clowns use to help them build out an act.[30] Frameworks can be loose, including only a general beginning and ending to the act, leaving it up to the clown's creativity to fill in the rest, or at the other extreme a fully developed script that allows very little room for creativity.
Shows are the overall production that a clown is a part of, it may or may not include elements other than clowning, such as in a circus show. In a circus context, clown shows are typically made up of some combination of entrées, side dishes, clown stops, track gags, gags and bits.
Gags, bits and business
Business – the individual motions the clown uses, often used to express the clown's character.
Gag – very short piece of clown comedy that, when repeated within a bit or routine, may become a running gag. Gags are, loosely, the jokes clowns play on each other. A gag may have a beginning, a middle, and an end – or may not. Gags can also refer to the prop stunts/tricks or the stunts that clowns use, such as a squirting flower.
Bit – the clown's sketch or routine, made up of one or more gags either worked out and timed before going on stage, or impromptu bits composed of familiar improvisational material
Menu
Entrée — clowning acts lasting 5–10 minutes. Typically made up of various gags and bits, usually within a clowning framework. Entrées almost always end with a blow-off — the comedic ending of a show segment, bit, gag, stunt, or routine.
Side dish — shorter feature act. Side dishes are essentially shorter versions of the entrée, typically lasting 1–3 minutes. Typically made up of various gags and bits, side dishes are usually within a clowning framework. Side dishes almost always end with a blow-off.
Interludes
Clown Stops or interludes are the brief appearances of clowns in a circus while the props and rigging are changed. These are typically made up of a few gags or several bits. Clown stops will always have a beginning, a middle, and an end to them, invariably culminating in a blow-off. These are also called reprises or run-ins by many, and in today's circus they are an art form in themselves. Originally they were bits of business usually parodying the preceding act. If for instance there had been a tightrope walker the reprise would involve two chairs with a piece of rope between and the clown trying to imitate the artiste by trying to walk between them, with the resulting falls and cascades bringing laughter from the audience. Today, interludes are far more complex, and in many modern shows the clowning is a thread that links the whole show together.
Prop stunts
Among the more well-known clown stunts are: squirting flower; the too-many-clowns-coming-out-of-a-tiny-car stunt; doing just about anything with a rubber chicken, tripping over one's own feet (or an air pocket or imaginary blemish in the floor), or riding any number of ridiculous vehicles or clown bicycles. Individual prop stunts are generally considered individual bits.
Gallery
Joseph Grimaldi as Clown, showing his own make-up design (1820)
Actor in a clown costume (c. 1870)
The Italian Pagliaccio of c. 1600 (Maurice Sand, Masques et bouffons (Comedie Italienne), 1860)
The French Paillasse character (1885 engraving)
Chuchín (José de Jesus Medrano), a famous Mexican circus clown from the late 1960s to 1984
A circus clown in an Arm & Hammer Brand Soda advertisement poster (c. 1900)
Clowns are often associated with the pie-in-the-face gag. An auguste clown holds a pie at a parade.
Typical aspects of an Auguste; white muzzle and eyes (Swedish actor Lasse Beischer [sv] in a performance of 1 2 3 Schtunk [sv], 2008 photograph)
10-year-old Swedish actress Inger Nilsson during her visit to Helsinki, Finland in February 1970; she is here seen with the Finnish clown Onni Gideon in Helsinki Ice Hall
^Icelandic klunni, Swedish kluns "clumsy, boorish person"; c.f. North Frisian klönne and kluns, also meaning clumsy person. An alternative proposal derives clown from Latin colonus "colonist, farmer". The verb to clown "to play the clown onstage" is from about 1600.[16]
^From paglia, the word for straw (after the straw costume of the rustic buffoon character), or from bajaccio "mocker, scoffer".
^
A study by the University of Sheffield concluded "that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable."[20][21] The natural dislike of clowns makes them effective in eliciting laughter by releasing tension in acting clumsy or rendering themselves helpless.[22][23]
References
^Rogers, Phyllis (1980). "My Favorite Foods are Dr Pepper, Collard Greens, and Pizza. I'm sure I'll Be a Good Clown". ScholarlyCommons. Studies in Visual Communication. 6 (1). University of Pennsylvania: 44–45. doi:10.1111/j.2326-8492.1980.tb00116.x (inactive 31 January 2024). Retrieved 1 January 2021. Your face was your fortune, and to copy another man's face without his permission was theft, punishable by ostracism. Every man had some kind of special trick which made his makeup look perfect...The old clowns feel that the quickest and easiest way for a person to distinguish between a clown and a person in makeup is the clown's ability to make his face move...The old clowns say that anyone can apply greasepaint to his face but very few practitioners of the art of clowning ever acquire the skill to make their faces move.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link)
^Butler, Laurel (March 2012). "'Everything seemed new': Clown as Embodied Critical Pedagogy". Theatre Topics. 22 (1). Johns Hopkins University Press: 63–72. doi:10.1353/tt.2012.0014. S2CID191476878. Archived from the original on 29 April 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2021. Italian clown pedagogue Giovanni Fusetti proposes...conceiving of clown as a state of being...'a state of playing where everyone has access to the key question: what is so funny about myself?' Lecoq describes entering into 'the clown dimension,' which requires 'a state of openness, entirely without defense...a state of reaction and surprise' (146). John Wright...[says] 'the state of bafflement that we see in clown...as a common state of humanity...Clown reminds us that, deep down, we're all in exactly the same bemused state' (218). John Flax (2009)...says that, for Lecoq, 'theatrical clown was just about finding that basic state of vulnerability and allowing the audience to exist in that state with you...A clown state is a state of innocence and poetry and naivety that allows the audience to draw their own conclusions. That's the state that you bring them to, and they'll make the connections or not, but they love to be in that state because we don't go there very often. It's a state of anti-intellectualism, a kind of pure emotion.'{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^Keisalo, Marianna (24 March 2017). "'Picking People to Hate': Reversible reversals in stand-up comedy". Suomen Antropologi. 41 (4): 62. Retrieved 22 March 2021. Reversals, broadly defined as switching to the opposite of what is considered 'the normal order' ... Reversals are an important aspect of the performance of many ritual clown figures (Keisalo-Galvan 2011; Steward 1991 [1929]) as well as more everyday instances of clowning and humor (e.g., Basso 1979).
^Double, Oliver (2014) [2005]. "Licence". Getting the Joke: the inner workings of stand-up comedy. Quote by Stewart Lee (2nd ed.). New York: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. p. 264. ISBN978-1-4081-7460-9. According to Stewart Lee, 'By reversing the norms and breaking the taboos, the clowns show us what we have to lose, and what we might also stand to gain, if we stand outside the restrictions of social convention and polite everyday discourse.'
Un clown, pitre ou paillasse est un personnage comique de l'univers du cirque. Visages disparaissant sous le maquillage, vêtus de façon spectaculaire, les clowns se partagent traditionnellement en « Augustes » et en « Clowns blancs ». Cependant, d'autres formes de clown, décrits dans les chapitres "La comédie clownesque" et suivants, existent en dehors du cirque depuis le XVIe siècle.
Le substantifmasculin[1],[2],[3],[4],[5]clown (API /klun/) est un emprunt[1],[2],[5] à l'anglaisclown[3],[4], un substantif[6]attesté depuis la seconde moitié du XVIe siècle[2],[5], d'abord sous les graphiescloyne et cloine[2] (en )[5], puis sous les graphies clowne (en ) et cloune (en )[5], d'où clown, au sens de « homme rustre, paysan »[1],[2], d'où « bouffon, fou »[1],[2] et plus spécifiquement, à partir du XVIIIe siècle[2], « pantomime, personnage des arlequinades et du cirque »[2]. Le mot vient du germaniqueklönne signifiant « homme rustique, balourd », depuis un mot désignant, à l'origine, une « motte de terre »[7]. En anglais, on trouve aussi clod et clot, signifiant aussi bien « motte » que « balourd, plouc ». Ainsi, le mot anglais clown a d'abord désigné un paysan puis un rustre et au XVIe siècle il est passé dans le vocabulaire du théâtre pour désigner un « bouffon campagnard ».
Cependant l'étymologie de l'anglais clown reste discutée[8]. À la suite de Ben Jonson[9], certains auteurs ont considéré l'anglais clown comme dérivé du latincolonus[5]. Le mot clown aurait donc une origine latine « colonus », le colon qui se prononce « couloun » en occitan. Il s'agissait des colons romains, légionnaires « retraités » à qui l'on attribuait des terres dans les provinces dont la Narbonnaise qui correspondait géographiquement en grande partie à la Provence et au Languedoc. Ces « coulouns » dépenaillés, un peu étranges aux yeux des gens du cru étaient volontiers raillés par la population locale. Par extension le mot a désigné des paysans un peu attardés, rustres et est passé à la langue anglaise après la longue période de présence anglaise dans le sud-ouest occitan.
En français, clown est attesté dès le début du XIXe siècle. Il apparaît pour la première fois en [10], sous la graphie claune, citée comme « prononciation exacte du mot anglais »[5], dans la première édition des Animaux savants[11]. La graphie clown est attestée dès [5],[12] dans le Diorama de Londres d'Eusèbe de Salle[13].
Même s'il tire sa filiation de personnages grotesques anciens, notamment ceux de la Commedia dell'arte, le clown proprement dit est une création relativement récente. Il apparaît pour la première fois en Angleterre au XVIIIe siècle, dans les cirques équestres. Les directeurs de ces établissements, afin d'étoffer leurs programmes, engagèrent des garçons de ferme qui ne savaient pas monter à cheval pour entrecouper les performances des véritables cavaliers. Installés dans un rôle de serviteur benêt, ils faisaient rire autant par leurs costumes de paysans, aux côtés des habits de lumière des autres artistes, que par les postures comiques qu'ils adoptaient, parfois à leurs dépens.
Les clowns suivaient le mouvement des numéros présentés, en les caricaturant pour faire rire (le clown sauteur, le clown acrobate…). Ce personnage évolua pour devenir de moins en moins comique : distingué, adoptant des vêtements aux tissus nobles et de plus en plus lourds avec l'emploi des paillettes, il fit équipe avec l'auguste. Ce dernier devint le personnage comique par excellence, le clown servant de faire-valoir. C'est la configuration que l'on connaît aujourd'hui. L'auguste prit peu à peu son autonomie, quand certains trouvèrent le moyen de faire rire la salle sans avoir besoin du clown pailleté. L'auguste s'imposa alors en tant qu'artiste solitaire, proposant parfois à un spectateur de lui servir de partenaire.
Le clown peut porter un pseudonyme inspiré du langage enfantin (en langue française, l'utilisation du redoublement de syllabe ou de sons est ainsi courant), comme Jojo, Kiki, etc.
Le clown blanc, maître de la piste, apparemment digne et sérieux, est le plus ancien type de clown. L'auguste au nez rouge, personnage loufoque et grotesque, a fait son entrée vers 1870. Avec les trios de clowns, créés au début du XXe siècle, est apparu le contre-pitre, le clown qui ne comprend jamais rien.
L'auguste.
Le clown blanc
Le clown blanc, vêtu d'un costume blanc, est, en apparence, digne et autoritaire. Il porte le masque lunaire du Pierrot : un maquillage blanc, et un sourcil (plus rarement deux) tracé sur son front, appelé signature, qui révèle le caractère du clown. Le rouge est utilisé pour les lèvres, les narines et les oreilles. Une mouche, référence certaine aux marquises, est posée sur le menton ou la joue. Le clown blanc est beau, élégant. Aérien, pétillant, malicieux, parfois autoritaire, il fait valoir l'auguste, le met en valeur.
L'auguste (clown rouge)
L'auguste porte un nez rouge, un maquillage utilisant le noir, le rouge et le blanc, une perruque, des vêtements burlesques de couleur éclatante, des chaussures immenses ; il est totalement impertinent, se lance dans toutes les bouffonneries. Il déstabilise le clown blanc dont il fait sans cesse échouer les entreprises, même s'il est plein de bonne volonté. L'auguste doit réaliser une performance dans un numéro au cours duquel les accidents s'enchaînent. Son univers se heurte souvent à celui du clown blanc qui le domine.
Le contre-pitre
Le contre-pitre est le second de l'auguste et son contre-pied. « Auguste de l'auguste », c'est un clown gaffeur qui ne comprend rien, oublie tout, et dont les initiatives se terminent en catastrophes, relançant les rires[17].
L'excentrique
L'excentrique est un clown d'inspiration britannique, dérivé de l'auguste[18]. Toutefois, il se distingue de ce dernier par son caractère : s'il reprend bien la maladresse et la malchance propre à l'auguste, l'excentrique se compose une personnalité intelligente. Sur le plan vestimentaire, l'excentrique reprend les codes de l'auguste (habits à carreaux, grosses chaussures, etc.). Contrairement au clown blanc, à l'auguste et au contre-pitre qui ont généralement besoin de se compléter les uns les autres pour jouer leurs entrées clownesques, l'excentrique est souvent seul sur scène.
La comédie clownesque
Après les années 1890, les clowns acrobates deviennent aussi des clowns parleurs. Foottit et Chocolat, « le plus célèbre duo de clowns de la belle époque », inventent la comédie clownesque[19]. Sans négliger le répertoire de leur prédécesseurs, ils ne se contentent plus de parodier les numéros de cirque qui les ont précédés, ils cherchent aussi leurs personnages dans la vie sociale. Maitre blanc et valet noir, ils reproduisent la violence des rapports sociaux et raciaux. Ils s'inspirent aussi du mimodrame et du transformisme, comme dans la parodie de Cléopâtre jouée par Foottit en 1890 en imitant Sarah Bernhardt[20]. Avec eux le jeu du clown se rapproche du jeu de l'acteur, mais un acteur sans psychologie qui, comme le dit Pierre Étaix, « n'existe que dans le temps où il agit » et dont Henry Miller dit qu'il est un « poète en action » [21].
À partir des années 1920, les Fratellini réinventent ce genre clownesque. À trois, ils forment une véritable petite troupe et leurs entrées, prenant de plus en plus de place dans le spectacle tant ils deviennent célèbres, sont presque des comédies en raccourci. Tristan Rémy dans son ouvrage Les clowns qui fait autorité en la matière, écrit qu'ils concentrent en eux les trois aspects essentiels de la comédie clownesque : « François, le clown, dernière incarnation de la fantaisie d'esprit latin; Paul, l'auguste, type d'origine germanique, qui, francisé, a remonté la pente depuis son ancêtre le palefrenier maladroit et à qui la dignité restitue l'emphase et la responsabilité ; et enfin, Albert, le pitre, refuge des suprêmes exagérations de la pantomime anglaise.»[22].
Tous les clowns qui travailleront en compagnies après eux, comme le Théâtre Licedei en Russie, les Macloma et les Nouveaux Nez en France, les Colombaioni en Italien, Bolek Polivka en République tchèque leur seront redevables d'avoir fait évoluer ce genre.
Le clown hors du cirque
Dans le théâtre élisabéthain, au XVIe siècle
Illustration représentant Richard Tarlton, clown élisabéthain (1580)
Le clown est un personnage traditionnel du théâtre élisabéthain. S'il est gaffeur, lourdaud et ridicule, il fait également preuve d'un grand bon sens, et, parfois même, d'un cynisme proche de celui du bouffon. Il apparait dans le théâtre populaire en Angleterre au XVe siècle et remplace le personnage d'old vice (trop vieux et pas assez commode pour faire rire) qui n'est autre que le serviteur et homme de main du diable. Évidemment, le clown étant un personnage de comédie, il n'est jamais à la hauteur des tâches sournoises que son maître lui confie, ce qui sert évidemment la dramaturgie. Le nom de ce personnage est Clod, ce nom évolue on ne sait comment en clown.
Au XIXe siècle, au théâtre, certains artistes veulent mélanger Shakespeare et le cirque. C'est un échec total, le public voulant des acrobaties, pas du texte. Même si certains clowns sont célèbres grâce aux quelques phrases qu'ils lancent comme « 1, 2, 3… » ou « Musique ! », cela n'en fait pas forcément des clowns-acteurs.
Au XXe siècle, les comédiens burlesques font leur apparition comme Raymond Devos et Coluche, qui, dans tous leurs spectacles, gardent dans leurs gestes et état d'esprit une attitude typique du clown.
Parmi les accessoires, on trouve les vêtements, souvent colorés, ridicules et trop grands, les farces et attrapes en général (boutonnière arroseuse…), et les tartes à la crème.
Le personnage du clown a puissamment évolué. Son territoire n'est plus uniquement le cirque. La définition ci-dessous, au chapitre Théorie, illustre le foisonnement créatif de ce personnage.
Le clown du théâtre peut relever du théâtre d'improvisation, axé sur les sentiments, sur ce qu'il ressent. Pour l'expliquer clairement, il doit passer par la présentation des trois strates de « comportement de l'individu » (faute de meilleure appellation).
Il y a le « je », celui de tous les jours, celui que nous sommes naturellement, avec la famille ou les amis. Celui qui vit les choses avec sa personnalité, son métier, son âge, son ressenti juste. Il y a l'acteur, vous ; qui jouez un autre. Puis il y a le clown. Le clown est la partie de vous qui n'est pas visible socialement. Il est là, il ressent les choses que vous vivez mais ne le dit pas, parce que vous ne le laissez pas s'exprimer. Il serait peut être trop excentrique, excessif, colérique, etc. C'est un diamant brut qui n'a pas été façonné par la société, qui réagit à sa manière ; singulièrement. Contrairement à vous qui avez des tabous, une idéologie, une éthique, une morale, la politesse, et les interdits à respecter. Lui il peut tuer, il peut cracher, il peut roter, il peut aimer comme jamais vous n'avez aimé.
Avec des mots cela peut sembler schizophrénique, mais une fois qu'on chausse le nez et qu'on vient sur scène on comprend ce que cela signifie : « être clown ». Peut-être le mot clown n'est pas le mieux adapté à la situation, à cause de toutes ses connotations plus ou moins péjoratives dans l'oreille d'autrui.
Le clown porte un nez rouge, certes, mais n'est pas là pour faire le « guignol ». Il peut être dépressif, colérique, dégoûté, heureux, amoureux… Ou tout en même temps. Il s'appuie sur le public en lui donnant à voir ce qu'il ressent, il a besoin de ce public pour exister, sinon il n'est rien. Le clown ressent, contrairement à l'acteur qui peut seulement faire semblant de ressentir. S'il est avec un autre clown, il montre ce que ça lui fait d'être avec lui, comment il le vit. Et le renvoie au public. D'ailleurs, en tant que public, rien n'est plus jouissif qu'un clown sur scène qui nous montre ce qu'il a en lui par un simple regard. Pour qu'on sache où il en est, en lui. Lorsqu'il ne nous regarde pas, il ne nous emmène pas dans son univers. Mais ces regards publics sont des automatismes, au fur et à mesure le clown se rend compte qu'il a besoin de regarder son public pour continuer d'exister à travers l'autre.
Théorie
Quelle serait la définition du clown qui engloberait toute la diversité de personnages, de thèmes et de styles relevant de ce domaine artistique ?
« Le clown est un acteur qui possède parfaitement ses moyens tout en faisant semblant de ne rien maîtriser ». Il parait idiot, laid ou même mal formé, il bouge mal, il laisse tout tomber… (à la place de l’« acteur », on peut aussi écrire l’« artiste », en élargissant ce terme à d’autres genres que le théâtre).
Évidemment, s’il le fait juste pour humilier l’être humain qu’il est pour donner à ses spectateurs complexés l’impression de ne pas être les plus bêtes et les plus miséreux (piètre consolation, mais si appréciée des plus démunis !), cela relève plus de la prophylaxie médicale que de l’art (la majorité des hommes ont des bonnes raisons de se mésestimer - ou bien la société se charge de les en persuader…). Cela peut aussi être de l’auto-thérapie, ce qui d’ailleurs paraît souvent être la principale motivation du « faire le clown »…
Les meilleurs clowns semblent avoir assimilé l’aphorisme taoïste : « La mer est plus bas que les rivières et pourtant, elle les domine… ». Encore que pour les clowns, il ne s’agit pas de dominer les spectateurs, mais de casser les barrages des préjugés et des clichés qui les empêchent de voir par leurs propres yeux.
Par l’esprit ludique enfantin qu’il a su garder, le clown nous redonne la fraîcheur du regard de notre propre enfance[23].
Clown et clichés
Personnage fortement typé, le clown, à l'origine personnage burlesque, a vu son image détournée : tout d'abord est apparu l'archétype du clown triste, « obligé de faire rire même quand son cœur est gros » (le clown blanc est par ailleurs proche, à quelques paillettes près, du nostalgique Pierrot lunaire) ; puis des personnages de clowns maléfiques, qui utilisent l'attrait qu'ils exercent auprès des enfants pour les tuer (tel que le monstre protéiforme de Ça, roman de Stephen King), les torturer ou les violer (tel que Tweedles, du groupe d'avant-garde The Residents).
Clown et pédagogie
Le regard décalé, voire en contrepoint, du personnage du clown peut être utilisé comme levier afin de favoriser l'apprentissage. Le rapport du clown à l'échec ou à l'erreur, à l'émerveillement, à l'imaginaire ou encore à la sortie du cadre sont autant de moyens et de techniques permettant, dans certaines conditions, d'apporter des connaissances, de faire passer des notions d'une façon originale et souvent ludique. La compagnie de théâtre clownesque L'Île logique utilise et promeut cette méthode pour diffuser les sciences théoriques et spécifiquement les mathématiques depuis 2006 par exemple.
On parle même de Clown Core[Qui ?], mélange de métal et de rap, dans une ambiance sombre dirigé par des clowns maléfiques ; on peut citer à titre d'exemple Bawdy Festival.
Clown hospitalier
Bien que nombre de photos et d'illustrations attestent de la visite de clowns dans les hôpitaux dès le début du XXème siècle [24], c'est dans les années 1980 que s'est développé les visites régulières de clowns hospitaliers aux Etats Unis. Nombres d'associations de clowns à l'hôpital ont ensuite vu le jour dans de nombreux pays. Le clown hospitalier rend visite de façon régulière aux enfants dans les services de pédiatrie, mais aussi pour les adultes en service gérontologique par exemple.
La Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army, la Grande armée des clowns
L’idée était de prolonger une dimension festive et subversive issue des vieilles cultures populaires de transgression (carnaval, fête des fous…), de sortir des manifestations plan-plan traditionnelles, de permettre à chacun d’apporter ses propres idées et sa motivation grâce à une organisation complètement horizontale.
Ces deux personnages de clowns apparaissent notamment dans l’émission télévisée pour enfants québécoise diffusée de 1968 à 1971 sur Radio-Canada (et en France) : Sol et Gobelet.
↑(en) Entrée « clown » du Dictionnaire bilingue anglais – français [en ligne], sur le site des éditions Larousse (sens A, 1) [consulté le 18 octobre 2017].
↑Le Robert historique de la langue française, Paris, 1998.
↑Mme B., née V. L. (ill. d'après J.-D. Dugourc, impr. par P. Didot), Les animaux savants : ou Exercices des chevaux de MM. Franconi, du cerf Coco, du cerf Azor, de l'éléphant Baba…, Paris, A. Nepveu, , 1re éd., 1 vol., VII-[1]-80-[11], in-8o (14 × 9 cm) oblong (OCLC270946848, BNF33242039, SUDOC184512166, lire en ligne [fac-similé]).
↑Eusèbe de Salle (sous le pseudonyme de M. E. D. S. Arcieu), Diorama de Londres : ou Tableau des mœurs britanniques en mil huit cent vingt-deux, Paris, F. Louis – Delaunay, , 1re éd., 1 vol., 476, in-8o (21 cm) (BNF31288169, SUDOC056642059).
↑(it) Entrée « pagliaccio » du Dictionnaire bilingue italien – français [en ligne], sur le site des éditions Larousse [consulté le 19 octobre 2017].
↑Tristan Rémy, Les clowns, Paris, Éditions Grasset, , 488 p. (ISBN978-2-246-64022-6), chap. 21 (« Les excentriques solitaires : Bagessen, Little Tich, Joe Jackson »), p. 369-380
↑(en) Miriam Neirick, When Pigs Could Fly and Bears Could Dance: A History of the Soviet Circus, University of Wisconsin Press, (ISBN9780299287634, lire en ligne), p. 200-2002
Joseph Grimaldi as Clown, showing his own make-up design (1820)
Actor in a clown costume (c. 1870)
The Italian Pagliaccio of c. 1600 (Maurice Sand, Masques et bouffons (Comedie Italienne), 1860)
The French Paillasse character (1885 engraving)
Chuchín (José de Jesus Medrano), a famous Mexican circus clown from the late 1960s to 1984
A circus clown in an Arm & Hammer Brand Soda advertisement poster (c. 1900)
Clowns are often associated with the pie-in-the-face gag. An auguste clown holds a pie at a parade.
Pierrot and Harlequin by Paul Cézanne (1898)
Smilie The Clown
Swedish actor Gösta Ekman senior (1890-1938) as a whiteface clown in the play Han som får örfilarna (He Who Gets Slapped) by Leonid Andreyev (1926)![Typical aspects of an Auguste; white muzzle and eyes (Swedish actor Lasse Beischer [sv] in a performance of 1 2 3 Schtunk [sv], 2008 photograph)](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Lasse_Beischer_%282686825990%29.jpg/80px-Lasse_Beischer_%282686825990%29.jpg)
Typical aspects of an Auguste; white muzzle and eyes (Swedish actor Lasse Beischer in a performance of 1 2 3 Schtunk, 2008 photograph)
10-year-old Swedish actress Inger Nilsson during her visit to Helsinki, Finland in February 1970; she is here seen with the Finnish clown Onni Gideon in Helsinki Ice Hall
1968 postcard, main cast of Bozo's Circus (WGN-TV); left to right, Ringmaster Ned (Ned Locke), Mr. Bob (bandleader Bob Trendler), Bozo the Clown (Bob Bell), Oliver O. Oliver (Ray Rayner), Sandy the Clown (Don Sandburg)
Aquatic team with clowns at Kirk Kove, 1959
Toddles The Clown
Clown at a Memorial Day parade, 2004
Clown of Düsseldorf
a person attached or owing service to a household to provide casual entertainment and commonly dressed in motley with cap, bells, and bauble
Joker Clown
Carnival Joker
A sculpture of a clown at the Wurstelprater amusement park, Vienna
![Typical aspects of an Auguste; white muzzle and eyes (Swedish actor Lasse Beischer [sv] in a performance of 1 2 3 Schtunk [sv], 2008 photograph)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lasse_Beischer_(2686825990).jpg)
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