Clown Paintings

by Diane Keaton

The world needs its clowns. It's the clowns of society who make us laugh—sometimes—and who help us view our lives with greater clarity and perspective. Bigger than life, with their exaggerated features and makeup, dressed in their gaudily mismatched and hilariously oversized outfits, clowns refuse to be overlooked. And yet, the portrait of the clown has been all but ignored. Trained to respond respectfully to serious portraiture, we try to read meaning into their big mouths, prosthetic noses, and unruly tufts of hair. Ultimately, the paintings are what did amateur artists, who lavished so much time on these iconic images, hope to capture and accomplish?

Clown Paintings is a twisty little illustrated book that showcases 65 outrageous and compelling clown portraits, painted by amateurs and selected by actor-director Diane Keaton . By turns hilarious and heartfelt, joyful and mortifying, these artworks were collected over the years by Keaton, who found herself as mesmerized by their mute eloquence as she was by their bad taste. It's easy to see what drew Keaton to them. They embody contradiction; they're fabulous and horrible, hysterical and dignified, generic yet absolutely specific. And above all—in the grand clown tradition—way out there. The clowns, from whom we expect mischievous, out-of-control behavior, are painted as solemn and decorous subjects to contemplate. Instead of distracting us with brooms, squawking horns, rubber mallets, and slapstick humor, we get the chance to look at them carefully—and to consider how they not only make us laugh, but how they allow us to look more closely at ourselves. And to contemplate the abyss.

PLUS! Clown Paintings includes commentary and observations from America's to comedians and Woody Allen, Carrol Burnett, Phyllis Diller, Whoopi Goldberg, Eric Idle, Lida Kudrow, Jay Leno, Jerry Lewis, Penny Marshall, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Ben Stiller, Dick Van Dyke, Robin Williams, and more!

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Humor

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Diane Keaton (born Diane Hall) was an Academy Award-winning American film actress. Her first major film role was Kay Adams-Corleone in The Godfather movies. She starred with director and co-star Woody Allen in "Play It Again, Sam," "Sleeper," "Love and Death," "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan." She starred in many other films and worked as a director, producer, and screenwriter.

A number of books of her photography have been published.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aaaaa! Aaaaa! Aaaaa!

Actually, I've never been afraid of clowns. When I was a kid, I used to sleep with Bozo:



This delightful book features beautiful color photos of clown paintings from Keaton's personal collection and a few others.

Some are happy.



Some are sad.



Many are really quite well-done, but the overall vibe is rather creepy.




(Particularly the clown with no eyes and the one with a skull instead of a face full of colorful make-up.)

The paintings are interspersed with commentary by some of the industry's top comedians, the majority of whom seem to really dislike clowns.

Carol Burnett describes her childhood close encounter with a gaggle of clowns: "They weren't funny. They were scary. There was something wrong with them and I was the only kid in the world who was onto them."

Many of these celebs seem to bear the scars of early-age clown encounters. Woody Allen remembers, "I was not one of those kids who was frightened of clowns, just numbed into a torpor by having to endure Emmett Kelly try to milk laughs by pretending to sweep the spotlight with a broom."

And leave it to John Waters to bring up John Wayne Gacy in his essay entitled CLOWNS ARE USUALLY ASSHOLES.

I think Garry Marshall has the best line about clown paintings in general: "The first clown painting was possibly by an artist who wanted to try out 'all of his colors.'"

I really love this book, and would happily own any of the paintings showcased in its pages. (I'm not sure I would hang them in a room that I frequent a lot, but I would perhaps put them in a closet, or use them to unnerve visiting unwanted houseguests.)

[M]

I'm going to keep this on my current-reading list forever. Whenever I'm sad, I can come here and it'll cheer me up. Or when I'm cheerful, I'll come here, and it'll freak me out.

Plus it'll be nice on those fun days when everyone's mad at everyone. Diane Keaton will heal us all!

[Sara Goldenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a fun colorful book with notes from famous people. I liked it!!!

[Jackie Jameson]

ARE YOU SERIOUS!!???? LOVE, (or LOVE-D Diane Keaton) HATE HATE HATE FUCKING CLOWNS. "The world needs clowns"? Maybe back in the 30's, or during the depression...no! I take it back! The world needed Shirley Temple, but I can't think of one likable clown...Red Skelton? He was just SAD. How does a fucking sad clown cheer you up? Clowns as a concept I will never get, like that high pitched noise that only dogs can hear. There's a reason THAT ONLY DOGS CAN HEAR IT!

[Muffy Kroha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personally I think my clown paintings are more heinous- These are bad but not as good as you would think- Looks good on a coffe table!

[Marco · Rating 5 out of 5]

great for cutting up and hanging random clown pictures around your house--because this is the best.