Items Similar to “Circus Yard” American Regionalist, Elephants, Tents, Performers, Clowns, Oil
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 15
Paul Sample“Circus Yard” American Regionalist, Elephants, Tents, Performers, Clowns, OilMid-20th Century
Mid-20th Century
$12,000
£9,093.46
€10,479.17
CA$16,971.31
A$18,251.22
CHF 9,758.96
MX$220,104.56
NOK 123,408.78
SEK 112,441.29
DKK 78,302.60
About the Item
“Circus Yard” by Paul Starrett Sample (American, 1896-1974).
A vibrant circus scene by the noted American regionalist, Paul Starrett Sample. This work captures the lively bustle behind the big top, with elephants, handlers, and performers gathered in a sunlit staging area.
Sample often turned to scenes of working life and the pageantry of rural communities. His circus pictures belong to a broader exploration of American spectacle, human camaraderie, and small-town gatherings. Here he captures both the romance and the grit of circus labor. The elephants stand calm and monumental, while the performers move with a mix of fatigue and anticipation that suggests a long season still ahead.
The work is oil on canvas and is signed in the lower right. It is housed in a wonderful mid-century frame. The work retains a couple of torn labels on the reverse - one from the Associated American Artists and one from the artist himself. A faint pencil inscription across the stretcher reads “(?) Yard”.
Size:
20 inches tall by 24 inches wide (painting)
26.25 inches tall by 30.25 inches wide by 2 inches deep (frame)
Provenance:
Private collection, MD;
Acquired from the above
About the artist:
Sample's attempt to impose a Thomas Hart Benton/Grant Wood brand of Midwestern regionalism on New England seems to have been at once affirmative and upbeat, and singularly touched with irony. None of his 1930s paintings of Vermont rural life are without a note of discord, based perhaps on his own mild suspicion of small-town social customs. His New England roots were never deep until late in his career.
After a peripatetic childhood, four years at Dartmouth College, and a bout with tuberculosis, he settled in Los Angeles (1925), where he received artistic training (and inspiration) from artists as varied as Stanton MacDonald-Wright and David Alfaro Siqueiros. He also taught painting at the University of Southern California. During these same years, Sample and his wife Sylvia frequently visited Sylvia's parents in Vermont. The visits led to some of Sample's best-known paintings. In 1933, his career on the rise, Sample was appointed artist-in-residence at Dartmouth. After World War II, mural commissions and sketching trips across the country occupied much of his time.
Condition: Very good overall condition. Recently professionally cleaned. Some isolated areas of stable craquelure commensurate with age. A few small areas of minor retouch. Vintage frame with typical wear. It is ready to be displayed and enjoyed!
- Creator:Paul Sample (1896-1974, American)
- Creation Year:Mid-20th Century
- Dimensions:Height: 26.25 in (66.68 cm)Width: 30.25 in (76.84 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Very good overall condition. Recently professionally cleaned. Some isolated areas of stable craquelure commensurate with age. A few small areas of minor retouch. Vintage frame with typical wear. It is ready to be displayed and enjoyed!
- Gallery Location:Yardley, PA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2911217301912
About the Seller
New to 1stDibs
Joined in the past six months.
No Reviews Yet
Vetted Professional Seller
Every seller passes strict standards for authenticity and reliability
Established in 2013
1stDibs seller since 2025
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Shipping from: Yardley, PA
- Return Policy
More From This Seller
View All“Washington Square Park, 1938” NYC Social Realism Female American Artist Oil
By Dorothy Eisner
Located in Yardley, PA
An exceptional, large, early work by American artist Dorothy Eisner (1906-1984).
This painting was recently exhibited at Gracie Mansion in 2019 as part of “She Persists” - a show de...
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
“Crossroads, c. 1940” WPA Polish-American Expressionist Modernist Oil Signed
By Sol Wilson
Located in Yardley, PA
“Crossroads, c. 1940” by Sol Wilson (Polish-American, 1896-1974).
This expressive painting by Wilson depicts a moody village crossroads rendered with his signature textured brushwor...
Category
1940s Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
“Village Street” by Mary Nicholena MacCord, American Impressionist European Town
By Mary Nicholena MacCord
Located in Yardley, PA
A wonderful view of a charming European town. This work captures the quiet intimacy of a cobbled lane, its golden stones leading the viewer toward a cluster of whitewashed and brick ...
Category
Early 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil, Board
“Untitled, 1946” New Hope Modernist Small Abstract Bucks County Lambertville NJ
By Louis Stone
Located in Yardley, PA
“Untitled, 1946” by Louis K. Stone (1902-1984).
A strong and charming example of mid-century American modernism by one of the most important artists working in New Hope, PA. This wa...
Category
1940s American Modern Abstract Paintings
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
“Children in the Snow” by Willem van den Berg (Dutch, 1886-1970) Oil Signed
Located in Yardley, PA
“Children in the Snow” by Willem van den Berg (Dutch, 1886-1970)
An exceptional example of van den Berg’s beloved portrayals of children playing in the snow. Rendered with an earthy...
Category
Mid-20th Century Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
“Impressionist Landscape, c. 1915-1920” California Forest American Impressionist
By Francis Stillwell Dixon
Located in Yardley, PA
“Impressionist Landscape, c. 1915-1920” by Francis Stillwell Dixon (American, 1879-1967).
One of Dixon’s finest canvases, depicting a tranquil forest scene bathed in soft, dappled l...
Category
Early 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
You May Also Like
Circus Elephants American Modernism WPA Regionalism Mid-Century Modern Oil
Located in New York, NY
Circus Elephants American Modernism WPA Regionalism Mid-Century Modern Oil. Signed lower left.
Not much is known about Marco de Marco, but just look at...
Category
1930s American Modern Animal Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Circus Is in Town, " Social Realist Painting with Elephants and Giraffe
By Anne Walker
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Exuberant and vividly painted, this painting depicts the circus big top on the edge of a small town, with a wagon to one side, a pair of elephants waiting for their moment, and two c...
Category
Vintage 1930s American Art Deco Paintings
Materials
Paint
"Hippo" Paul Sample, Regionalist, Atmospheric Circus Performers and Animal Scene
By Paul Sample
Located in New York, NY
Paul Sample
Hippo
Signed lower right
Oil on canvas
16 x 20 inches
Provenance
Chidsey Collection
Private Collection (acquired from the above in 1980)
Sample's attempt to impose a T...
Category
1930s Realist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Getting Ready for the Show, Circus Scene w/ Clown
By Carl Frederick Gaertner
Located in Beachwood, OH
Carl Frederick Gaertner (American, 1898-1952)
Getting Ready for the Show
Oil on canvas
Signed lower left, signed and titled verso
41 x 35 inches
46.75 x 41 inches, framed
Carl Gaert...
Category
Early 20th Century Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil
“Big Tent” An American Traveling Circus Comes to Town
By Clifford Holmes
Located in San Francisco, CA
Before there was the Cirque du Soleil to astonish audiences with extraordinary acrobatics and spectacular showmanship, America’s traveling circuses drew patrons to enormous tents pit...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Landscape Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil
Antique American Ashcan School Modernist Circus Scene Signed PA Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American school modernist circus scene by Ann Taube Goodman (Born 1905). Oil on canvas, circa 1925.
Signed. Displayed in a modernist fra...
Category
1910s Modern Landscape Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
